A Traveling Spirit
by Helljumper206
Summary: I was just colony kid living his life. Soon the Covenant came and changed all that. Then I get 'Spirited' away on a UNSC ship and fought 'inside' a alien world only to escape with just the skin off our backs. Now I'm attending a school that teaches how to slay monsters for some ONI Spook. Just what have I got myself into?
1. They came

I do not own Halo for its saga goes to 343 and RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth

Arcadia, Pirth City Spaceport  
February 9th, 2531

" _What had I gotten myself into?_ "

That seemed to be the repeated thought that ran through my head for the last hour. It was just a typical afternoon, and I arrived back home from school. Dad was still at work with the Security office and wouldn't be home till later. So it was just me at home. Turning to my living room, I press the power button for the TV and saw the local news on. With the lady on the screen telling people about the local weather the city was going to have. No surprise it was going to be sunny all week.

I figured out after living here for nearly for nearly five years that the weather here is pretty consistent with mainly three seasons I doubled Spring, Summer, and hell. Being an Earthborn child this place was both a paradise and a torment. As much as I love the beaches, I miss the snow and winter.

The lady then went over to a local incident regarding the Inserection presence on the planet. By then I was only half listening to it at this point as I walked into the kitchen.

Mainly because my opinion on the Insurrection isn't very high, they went around disrupting everyone's lives just because the UEG and UNSC didn't meet with their standards and decided to make everyone's lives miserable in the process.

The one good thing out of all their petty rebel acts was that his father trained him early in his life with firearms and took some kickboxing classes. Heck, dad even bought me my first two guns for my birthday and for Chrismas.

The thought of it still made me smile as I fill up a cup of water.

Dad got me an M6C pistol with a black finish for my sweet fifteen birthday along with a holster and belt along with spare magazines and pouches for them. It was the same kind of pistol that the UNSC military uses in all their branches. We ended up going to a local firing range every weekend for four months straight shooting up targets. Even made a small competition to see who could outshoot the other. Taught me how to strip it and clean it too.

Dad got so proud of me it led to him giving me my newest gun. An M45 combat shotgun.

Now, most parents would think that giving a teenager an 8-gauge shotgun would be irresponsible for a parent to give. I say to hell with them. Firing that thing for the first time may have been the best eye opener in my young life. Aside from the bruised shoulder and a month of upper body training my SD instructor giving me I couldn't be happier with it. We also went to the firing range every weekend again so I could get used to the recoil and shooting. It still hurt to shoot it but still was fun to shoot. The last time a striped to clean it I pulled out the stopper in the loading tube. Now It could hold all six shots instead of three like they have in the military.

I have pulled away from my happy thoughts when I hear a blaring alert coming from the TV. Walking back into the living room I saw an alert message from the TV, and my body stopped cold from what I saw. The UNSC emergency broadcast. On the screen was an officer dressed in military BDU's standing over a podium.

" _Attention people of Arcadia. This is General Garza, commander of all the forces on Arcadias planetary forces._ " The general announced. " _As of twenty minutes ago planetary sensors were tripped showing two Covenant warships coming out of slip space._ "

My blood ran cold at this announcement of humanity's first contact with an alien species. I had heard the news, we all did from what they did on Harvest. Multiple species of religious genocidal aliens were campaigning to wipe out humanity in the name of alien gods. It brought excitement and fear knowing that they were here now. It was also a side reason why Dad had got him those weapons and taught me the emergency exit plan should he not be home should it happen. Should they ever find us, I would be ready to act to least defend myself if they came. Now I fear that day has come.

" _Our forces in orbit had successfully defeated and destroyed one of these ships._ " He said showing a little bit of pride in his grim features before getting back to his former look." _But we have lost two of the four ships in orbit and the second ship is on its way down two the planet, and we can't halt its advance. As of now, I am issuing a planet-wide evacuation of all civilian centers on Arcadia. All civilians are to evacuate to the nearest spaceport or orbital elevator for the immediate evacuation of Arcadia. Militia and local law enforcement are to direct as many civilians to these areas as fast they can... Good luck to everyone. May God help us all._ " He finished before the feed cut.

My body was locked up from the news given out. My mind was going a million kilometers an hour at humanities enemy at our doorstep. MY Doorstep.

The sound of city sirens and people screams flooded me with fear. The ringing of my phone brought me out of my stupor and saw it was Dad calling, bringing it up to my ear I answered. "Dad!"

" _Ruger! Thank god, where are you?_ " My Dad asked.

"I'm home. I just saw the emergency broadcast... Dad their here." I said fearfully.

" _I know son. Now listen to me very carefully son. I'm stuck on the other side of the city with the Covent are making their way down on us, and I can't make it home in time to get you._ " He explained. " _I have yours and my guns locked up in the safe along with two bug out bags for the both of us. Both of them hold copy's of our ID's, birth certificates, as well as weapon licenses so the UNSC can't take our guns. Go there now._ "

I complied as went to my Dads room to were the safe was. Opening up the closet and spotted two identical black bags. "Ok, I'm here."

" _Good, grab one then head to the safe. The combination for the electronic lock to the safe is 27665._ " Doing as I was told I grab the first black bag I saw and punched in the code on the safe. Getting a satisfying click as the door unlocks. Revealing three weapons inside. My M6C pistol and M45 shotgun along with my Dads self-customizable M7/Caseless submachinegun. There was also ammo for all three weapons and my Dad's spare tactical vest and a pair of battery-powered sound suppression ear muffs.

"It's open."

" _Good job son. Now listen to me._ " And I did.

" _I'm not going to be able to get to you before the Covent makes landfall. The apartment is just a little more than two kilometers from the spaceport and people are already running for their lives in the streets and are blocking traffic everywhere. You need to prepare yourself to fast track yourself there. I've been ordered by ground control to be there to assist with evac and won't be there to protect you. You are going to need to get brave now and get there yourself._ "

Swallowing the lump forming in my throat, I understood what he meant. "I-I understand..."

" _Son... Ruger. If I don't find you at the spaceport, then you get on a ship and leave. Just know that I love you son and always will._ " My chest started to ack. " _You got to be strong now. For yourself, this is the real deal._ "

The sound of an explosion sound on the phone quickened my heart, "Dad!?"

" _There here son there going after the comunicat_ - **BEEB BEEB BEEB**." Looking down at the phone I saw that the single was cut off. The sound of multiple aircraft flying outside drew my attention looking out I saw a lot of fast purple dots out in the distance.

Thinking on the fly, I quickly went and over to my room and pulled out a few things. The first being was my holster for my pistol, and there pouches. Followed by a pair of combat boots, tan cargo pants, and my favorite jacket. As quickly as I could, I put on the pants and slipped on the boots before grabbing the rest. Over to my desk where the last of my essential items was a small copper locket with a set of UNSC Dog Tags.

It was a simple locket but it once owned by my mother hooked around the chain of my mother's Dog tags. They were recovered and sent home us when we learned of her passing. The last thing there was my mother's ring that was also looped with it.

Pocketing them, I doubled back to my Dad's room and went to work on putting on the tactical vest and ear muffs. It took me less than ten seconds to put it on before I worked on filling up the pouches with ammo. I filled my M6C mags before pocketing them on my belt, followed by holstering my pistol on my right side. I then Rolled up my favorite jacket and stuffed it in my bug out bag. With that done I finished loading up the ammo on my belt with ammo for my M6C and shotgun. With that done I glanced out to see smoke out in the distance. It was then I can hear the sound of people screaming.

Fearing for my life, I pocketed the ammo for my Dad's gun as well before picking it up and looked it over. The gun was already customized with a tactical flashlight and a reflex sight. I haven't had much experience with using it like my two, but I took it anyway and placed it in a sling on my side.

An explosion occurred outside shook the apartment to the point that forced me down to a knee. Suddenly feeling my life expectancy slowly slipping away.

"Ok time to go!" I grabbed my bag and threw it over my shoulder before grabbing hold my of my shotgun in a low ready position began loading it with buckshot as I made my way to the door.

Reaching my door, I take one last look over my shoulder at the place I've called home. Both the good and the bad. Just to the side was a picture of my family.

It was the last picture that was taken of his mother before she left for the last time.

Without a second thought, I grab the frame, pulled the picture out and stuffed it in the same pocket as my mother tags were in.

Opening the front door the sounds of screams and explosions could be heard more clearly. Walking out further I watch as purple aircraft fly around in the air dropping green bombs onto cars and people out on the streets in front of me.

My mind thought back to all the war movies I've watched in all my life and found them to be sorely lacking in the horror department. The more I looked, the less I wanted to be here. With that, I began my track to the Spaceport. While I ran towards the direction of the Spaceport, staying low to avoid hostile fire. Making my way down the street, I saw my first alien right in front of me.

It wasn't that tall, but it looked scary nonetheless. It stood on two legs and sorta reminded me of a prehistoric bird. Carried a long purple rifle in its claws point right aT ME!

"Yipe!" I jumped to the side as a pair of green plasma shot by. Acting quickly I raised my shotgun up a fired my first shot at the alien.

" **BOOM!** "

The pellets of my buckshot seemed to turn the aliens head into an exploding melon.

"That's it...?"

I was a bit dumbfounded at what just occurred. I had just killed my first alien and was so easy to do so. It felt a bit of a letdown, to be honest.

An alien roar tore me away from my thoughts as a new alien appeared. This was a different alien, and it was tall standing at nearly eight feet. Wearing shiny blue armor from head to toe. It looked like some lizard with dark gray lizard-like skin and had no bottom jaw. Instead, it had four members instead that split into four different directions as it gave what sounded like commands to the other little aliens. It then pointed at me with one claw while the other held another kind of energy weapon. The little once were just slightly smaller them me. Carrying large orange tanks on their backs and masks over their faces. They also carried small green energy weapons similar to the bigger one. My analysis of them was soon cut off when one of them fired a baseball size glob of plasma at me, making me duck in a nearby alleyway.

My breath was already as heavy as adrenaline rushed through my body as I ran. There was no way I was going to be able to fight that many by my self. All that mattered was getting to the spaceport. The alleyway ended with me out rushing out onto the street. What I saw I could bearly hold back the growing bulge that was trying to come up from my stomach.

Bodies. Everywhere...

The Covenant had already been through there and cut everyone down. The smell of burnt flesh was heavy as I gaged. I couldn't take what was going on here this was too much for me! Shaking my head of what surrounded me, I went back to the task at hand. I needed to focus.

"Spaceport. Need to get to the Spaceport." I repeated that over and over in my head for a few seconds to get it through. Feeling a sudden sense of movement behind me, I look to see one of the little aliens that shot at me earlier appearing out of the way I came. Working my gun around I set my sights on the invader and pulled the trigger.

"CLICK!"

Panic filled me, I filled it with six shells and only fired it once when... Oh.

" **BANG!** " Bright blue blood stained the ground.

I forgot. 'Pump' action shotgun. I am so glad no one saw that. I would have probably died of embarrassment faster then the aliens would. With that, I moved on as quickly as I could down the road. Now noticing a few dead aliens along the way. The sound of more of those alien purple air flew through the air followed by something 'bigger.'

Looking up I see a UNSC heavy transport. Though I've only ever seen them in pictures, I recognize it as a D20 Herons. Something they use to drop bases on planets. If that's so, then the military must be getting more involved with the evacuation. Meaning I'm running out of time before the civilian transports leave.

Looking ahead of me I see the city's rail system. I use them every day to get to school. The rail I'm currently looking at gave me an idea. This particular rail line was connected to the station near the underground traffic lanes near to the spaceport two stations down. As long as I stay off the central power line that makes the trains go then I could safely head straight there with risk bumping into any more aliens down on the street.

With the plan in my head, I slung my shotgun on my back and lifted my Dads M7 in front of me. If I'm on the rails it will give me a better range then the shotgun would from up there. Jumping over the ticket gate was a little fun before running up the stairs and onto the station's boarding platform.

With no one in sight, human or alien, I jumped on the track and started making my way down the track. It was then I saw the full extent of the invasion in front of me. Smoke and fires were everywhere with the city. I was literally watching the life I had for the last five years go up in flames. Covenant and UNSC fighters weaved around buildings in their own individual aerial dogfights. The sight made me pick the pace more as I ran fighting seemed to be worsening the closer I got to the spaceport. An explosion in the air catches my attention.

It was the sight of a UNSC Pelican dropship falling out of the sky. I stopped my stride as I watched in stun horror as it rapidly descends in front of me. Then crashes onto the rail I'm standing on. The crash shook the rail line making me stumble. Looking at the crashed Pelican, it crashed on its sides with moke rose up and out of its engines. It also had its troop compartment facing me. I have heard of people serving spectacular crashes so with a seance of duty I ran over to the crash site.

Reaching the down Pelican, I went over to the troop compartment doors and started banging on it.

"Hey is anyone alive in there?! If you can hear me make some noise!" I called out. It didn't take long as I saw the bottom lip of the troop bay open up and a barrel of a gun stuck out. Its owner was a man dressed in Marien body armor. As soon as he saw me he visibly relaxed as made his way out of the crash waved his hand to someone out of view. "You guys alright? I had a front-row seat of your crash."

"Most of are alright. Pilots didn't make it though. Where are we?" He asked as three more Marines pooped and went about securing the area around the troop bay door. With more on their way out.

"You guys crashed right on one of the city's rail line," I answered.

"What are you doing on it then?" The Marien questioned. I looked in the corner of my vision saw a medic doing a single arm carry of another soldier out the Pelican.

"Roads down below aren't safe. Figure getting up high on the city's rail line would be a good idea to avoid the Covenant down below on the street. "

"This kids got smarts sarge. "One of the other Marines commented.

"Plus," I continued. "This particular rail line led directly to one of the stations near the spaceport till your ride blocking the way." All the Marines looked at what position their Pelican was in.

"Sorry about that," The Marine Sargent I've been talking to said. "I'm Sargent Irwin of the Spirit of Fire."

"I'm Ruger and don't worry about it. I know the rail lines pretty well. Where were you guys heading anyway? I can give you guys directions?" I offered.

"We were on our way to the spaceport to help in escorting civilians when Covent presents were increasing by the minute. I don't suppose you can tell us and shortcuts?" Sgt Irwin asked.

Looking around I recognized the area as one of the less developed areas on the outskirts of the city. More open ground and fewer buildings. Looking a bit closer was the freeway that lined up to the rail line we were standing on. The only problem with using that was everyone had to jump over three feet across and two meters down. It was a bit of a stretch, but it was doable. The freeway also veered off away from the spaceport, but not by much and led to the heavily used traffic tunnels that led into the city. With the plan in mind, I told it to the marines.

"We can take the freeway the rest of the way. Following it can lead us to the traffic tunnels that run throughout the city from there, I can guide you to where you need to be." I explained. He looked at me and nodded his head at me.

"Sounds like a solid plan. Alright, Marines! Pack it up and scrounge up any supplies we're moving." He said as he addressed the others before turning back to mean. "You're staying with us till we get you a ride off-world, and we're counting on you to be our guide can we count on you?" I nodded. "Good... Umm, you know how to use those kid?" He pointed at my guns to which I held them close.

"I've already killed two aliens today with my shotgun," I replied to which the Sagent laughed at my answer before his face grew serious.

"You hear that boys? This civilian already took down more bad aliens then us today. Which means we've got to step it up! Ok people up and down onto that freeway!" Motion his men over.

One by one I watched three of the six marines jump down onto the freeway. Sgt Irwin motioned me to go next. I nodded and with a small running jump and landed a bit harder then I would have liked.

"You ok there, killer?"The squad medic asked.

"Peachy," I growled as I stood up straight. By then the rest had made it down. "Take a left here and down the next exit. It'll lead us to where we need to go."

"Alright, Jack, Lane, take point everyone else double line formation." Sgt Irwin ordered before turning to me. "Ruger, you stay by me. Will get you out of here."

With that, the seven of us moved down towards the exit. No one spoke as we walked. Not wanting to attract any attention to ourselves. After a few minutes of marching, lane stops and motions us to get down. He then takes two fingers, points them at his eyes then points me points a ways away. Looking at where he pointed, I spotted several aliens and a giant monstrosity down the way from the traffic tunnel.

"Shit, Covenant Wraith right near we need to be."Sgt Irwin sighed before he looked at another one of his Marines. "Hey Clean got anything to take out that thing?"

"Sorry, Sarg. Lost the launcher on impact. All we got with enough punch is a few demo charges," Clean replied.

I heard Sgt Irwin cursed at the info.

"Are those things remote controlled?"

The two Marines looked at me "What?"

"Can they detonate from a remote control?" I repeated.

"Limited to a hundred meters," Clean said.

"Well, we are on the freeway, and they aren't."

"Yea?" Irwin said with a look that said he wanted the point.

"We don't necessarily need to kill them to get to where to be. If we tossed a few of those charges over the side here and get close to the tunnel. We can make an explosion to distract them and let us slip by." It felt like I had all six pair of eyes on me.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea Sarg." One of the other Marines commented to which the Sargent agreed with a nod of his head before looking over at Clean.

"Toss a few over and set it on an electric timer for four minutes." Clean nodded and pulled off the backpack he had on his back a pulled out a few cube looking objects. Tapped it a few times on a small screen before tossing them off the freeway. With that, we all started rush whall we all tried to stay low to the ground. It didn't take long for us to reach the off-ramp and with a good view of the tunnel entrance but there was little cover and a lot of open ground between here and there. "Everyone single file stay low and hug the wall. We don't know if there are any snipers in the area and I'm not keen on finding out."

With that, we all crouched down and did as we were told. I reached up and wiped a bit of sweat off my face, all the excitement was getting to me and wasn't sure if I should be scared or find this fun.

When we reached the end of the exit, the Sargent peaked out from cover and couldn't help but do the same. From our position, the Covenant had been idle around their tank. It was then the charges detonated and the Covenant lept into action as both the squad of ground troops and the tank turned and made their way in its direction.

"Huh. That worked out better than I thought?" I said aloud. The Marinas around me gave out some quiet laughs.

"Alright settle down we still got a job to do so let's get to it." Sgt Irwin announced and received several "Yes sir's'" from everyone.

With that out of the way, we all moved towards the entrance before Lane held up a hand. "Whoe hold up! somethings coming."

We all tensed up with our weapons drawn at the tunnel. Through the microphones of my battery ear muffs I the sound of something with an engine headed towards us. It wasn't long to a set of headlights belonging to a UNSC Warthog. It was then followed by a Scorpion tank and over two dozen Marines, with several of them being ODST's.

My eyes grew wide at the sight of the THREE Spartans in there super power armor.

ONI had only shown the rest of the galaxy the Spartan program. I remember the reactions of everyone were mixed about them. Now there were three here on his world fighting aliens. One carried a chaingun that should be used on a mounted vehicle, another had a huge shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, and the last had something on his shoulder that I couldn't recognize.

My attention was then drawn to the bald man behind big gun on the Warthog as he called out to Sgt Irwin.

"Irwin! Good to see you made it." The bald man said as his Warthog stopped and eyed each the Marines and me. With his gaze lingering on me a moment longer than the others.

"What's happening Forge? We were just making it to the spaceport." Sgt Irwin questioned.

"Spaceports overrun and the remaining evac shuttles have already left." Forge replied.

My face paled, and heart sank at the news given. The spaceport was lost to the Covenant and the ships already left. My thoughts then went to my father as he was supposed to defend the port. And if these soldiers say it was lost then more then likely I've just lost my father.

My father could be dead, the spaceport is gone, and the civilian evac ships are gone. Now all that seems for me between killer aliens and me are this handful of soldiers and the guns on me.

 _Just what had I've gotten myself into?!_

Hello Fanfic

I like to thank all you readers for taking a moment to read my story. This is the first story I've done that I've written involving Halo and RWBY. The RWBY portion will be explained in the next chapter after this.


	2. And I lived

Halo is owned by 343 and RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth

Spirit of Fire  
Starboard Lounge  
March 8th, 2531

* * *

"What did I get myself into?" I said to myself once again.

It had been almost a month seans those quiet days I've lived were gone. Arcadia was gone as well as nearly a fourth of the ship's crew have been killed in action while fighting on an alien made world. A month where I believe my father could vary well be dead somewhere on the surface of Arcadia's Capital. A month I'd spent aboard a UNSC warship and possibly contributed to one of the most daring military mission for the survival of Humanity.

 _And no one will ever know._

I sighed and laid back into my seat as I tilted my head down to get a better look at myself. From my chest down I was wearing the tan UNSC Marine body armor they loaned to me. After assisting the Marines out of Arcadia and killing a few more Covenant. Sgt Forge was a little impressed with me that I stayed strong throughout the whole battle and helped Sgt Irwin and his men defend the base they dropped in that creator even more so when I joined in on the counter-attack on the Covenant base when I wasn't supposed to. Told me that it was reckless and scolded for doing so but complemented me and saying that I got " _a massive set of balls for a civilian and could wait to what I'm like after boot._ " He was probably joking but I'd never got the chance to ask. _Never will now._

Afterward, they sent a Pelican to pick me and the wounded up for transport to the Spirit of Fire. Where I was supposed to wait for pick up and be taken somewhere else, they ask for my ID and papers for my guns to show they were indeed mine. They gave me a case to secure them in so when I leave I wouldn't make everyone nerves by openly carry them in public. Myself along with nearly fifty others were supposed to go.

Obovsliy that didn't happen to me. When they were arranging transport for the last twenty people, myself included, the ship went into sudden action and went into Slip-space. The ships scientist and ONI rep Pof. Anders got taken captive and made the Captin made a priority one jump to go after her. The Navy personnel were at a loss of what to do with the other twenty people. Seven of them were prior serves and were allowed to help out where ever they can, and ten didn't want to get involve with the fighting so they were put into cryo.

I and three others were signed on as contractors to help in any way we can with the ship. One girl was an engineer at the spaceport and was sent to engineering. The other, a man was an election for construction, so he too was sent there as well, now both were helping with the ship's repairs. The other guy was a cook so they had him in the mess cooking up fantastic Italian dishes for the crew.

Me? I didn't have any construction background or tech skills. So I joined ship security as an add on. When the Captin heard about my decision, he was skeptical. Who wouldn't? A sixteen-year-old with ship security without proper training will at the very least raise an eyebrow at that. But agreed due to getting support from Sargent's Forge and Irwin along with the ships A.I. Serena pulling up video footage that the Spartans recorded of me taking down a few Covenant troops and assisting the soldiers. Not an hour later I was issued gear and was allowed to openly carry my weapons, and was Assigned under Sgt Irwin with recon team Echo.

That turned out to be a mistake as not an hour after landing at our new destination we get attack by some new hostile life form. Parasitic life forms that shall grant me nightmares for the rest of my days.

Out of the sixty-man recon element only twenty-two survived while the rest including haft of Sgt. Irwins team and Irwin himself ended up becoming food for the parasite and lost the Elephant we were in charge of. We ran for our lives and was eventually found by Sgt Forge and the Spartans later on. But now there was only Privet Clean, myself, Lane, the medic Jack were left. Lane was promoted from Corporal to Sargent and took charge of what was left of the team. The others learned from me when my shotgun worked best when fighting those things. We ended retrieving our lost Element and got back to base were sent back to the Spirit for debriefing and sat out the next couple of engagements to recuperate. But we ended up having to clean the ships haul of those things when they jumped onto the ship. When that was done, we even ended up raming into a Covenant ship and having to beat them off the ship so they wouldn't destroy the ships power core. We did get the Professor and found out what the Covenant were doing and used the ships slip-space drive as a makeshift bomb to blow up a whole planet. And losing Sgt Forge in the process.

Now after a week and a haft later with no sign of the Covenant everyone was running out of things to do. Due to the loss of the ship's only slip-space drive, many of the crew got sent to Cryo to save resources. Only a skeleton crew and the ships repair team along with myself a few others remained awake. Although that remained to be seen with me as they prepared a pod for me yesterday but refused to enter it. I still remember when I was a kid going to Arcadia for the first time, they put me in one of those, and they scared the hell out of me. I did not like the idea of being a human popsicle I'd rather be launched in an HEV pod the ODST's use then go into one of those.

"Is that seat taken?"

The deep voice through me for a loop as I turn to see the owner. Only for me jump up and stand at attention at the ship's Captin, Cutter. The guy looked older than he actually was. To me, he could have been in his late sixties while he was actually in his early fifties. He stood at a little over six foot. His face displayed one of a slight amusement that reflected off his blue eyes at my reaction.

"At ease Tyler, seat take?" he asked again.

"No sir," I replied and took a seat right next to me and got comfy as he looked at me before I sat down.

"So what are you still doing up? I've ordered all personnel who are not assisting in the repairs or who I've put of the skeletal watch to head for Cryo storage until the need for them is appropriate to avoid wasting resources. To which you are neither."

I felt a small bit of sweet build up on my neck. I didn't want to lie to the man as he was both in charge of the ship and the guy that led flown everyone out of hell. So the truth then.

"Well, sir there's a bit of story to that," I said. He looked at me and nodded his head to continue. "I was born on Earth and me and my family at the time went and settle for colony life on Arcadia. Dad was getting a job with Arcada planetary security and Mom was in the Navy like you. The first time I went into Cryo was beyond scary for a ten-year-old me.

I remember walking by all the other pods they had people stored in, to me it was like something you'd see out some 20th-century si-fy horror film." My eyes then left the captain and looked out into the abyss. "They eventually got me in, and four months later I'm thawed out on Arcadia. But that's only how it started for me not what solidified the fear for me."

"What was it?" The Captin asked. It was then I pulled out the dog tags I had in my pocket and showed it to him now seeing getting his attention as my gaze was solely on the tags.

"In 2527 my mother's ship the UNSC Calcutta," I didn't see, but the Captin eyes widen a bit, "and the battle group she was in got ambushed by two Covenant ships. The Calcutta manage to due to an emergency blind jump, but the damage was already done. It took a plasma torpedo to the port side and served power throughout the ship. During this, they were still trying to thaw out everyone for combat. With the power running out..."

"...not everyone woke up." The Captin finished.

"Yeah... We didn't get word of her death till three months after the attack with another one where her body behind returned and given a proper funeral. This and a picture of my family I've got in my bunk is all that is left now. With my dad being left back on Arcadia I can only assume he's dead. I've got no one left, and I feel like if go inside a cryo-pod i"ll end up like my mother. A frozen member that didn't know what hit her when she went to sleep." I finished.

The Captin looked over with a critical eye for a minute as if he was an A.I. looking me over. Then he turned to look out into the abyss before speaking.

"Not long before the Harvest campaign back in late of 25, I was offered the chance to command 'The Prophecy.' A Marathon-class heavy cruiser. I declined it." He said and to my surprise.

I may not be Navy or have much experience with ships other than my time on board the Spirit of fire and what I was told by Mom, but even I know what the Marathon- class ships were. They were some of the biggest ships out there in the UNSC and are usually considered flagships for battlegroups.

"I even passed a promotion to be an Admiral spot. All for the reason that baffled a few in HIGHCOM. Wanna know what it was?" I nodded. Getting interested in his story and slightly wondering where this was going? "It's as simple as I didn't want them.'

"Huh?" I said, dumbfounded at something like that.

"I simply didn't want them. Didn't want to deal with the politics that an Admiral has to deal with constantly or a powerful, bulky ship that could be only good for two or three situations. It's as simple as me wearing the Navy's BDU's instead of something officers dress. I wanted to level those under me and command my ship from the front seat of my bridge where I can see everything instead of standing in the back room behind a battle group. I felt like I could do more as a Captin of this old colony instead of an Admiral of a heavy cruiser. I've served on several ships and personally commanded two of them and out of all them, the Spirit of Fire I felt at home. From the first time I set foot on that bridge, I knew I was where I belong." He explained before turning back to me. "And now I suspect you as well."

"Sir?" I said in confusion. He smiled at my confusion.

"The Spirit of Fire was launched early of 2473 and has since been retrofitted twice for military service. The first was when the UNSC transferred it from the UEG colony expansion corporations and turned it into a fleet support vessel and outfitting her with ship weapons, military personnel, and equipment. The second was where her thrust assembly was replaced with better ones, recycled from a destroyer that was being scuttled. Now she's faster and more maneuverable than before." He then looked me dead in the eye. "That scuttle destroyer that gave up its engines to us was the UNSC Calcutta." I felt like I just punched in the gut with this news.

"Parts of my mother's ship are here?!" I said in disbelief. Cutter just kept on smiling before standing up and waved me to follow. Curiosity got the better of me, and I followed behind.

After nearly fifteen minutes of silent walking down the quiet decks of the Spirit, we reach a hall I've yet to be in and was taken back at what I saw.

From the mental map, I had in my head told me we were near hanger 1 and two decks below the bridge. Looking down my eyes were glued to the shiny reflective walls with names they were on. From the top of the ceiling to the floor where the ranks, names, and dates of many people. From Navy, marines, army, and civilians. A few of them that were pilots had their call sings in them too. As I looked over the walls, the Captin spoke again.

"When I first took command of this ship, I had this ordered to remember all those lost while they were in serves aboard this ship. When I saw the brief about receiving the Calcutta's thruster package for the Spirits second retrofit, I ordered these names to be here as well."He said point at a specific section of names. Looking at that area, he was pointing at. I found the dates of all of them to be the same and very familiar as goosebumps started to crawl up my arms till one name I read stopped me as I traced along the paint with my fingers.

 **'Petty officer second class Elizabeth (Dancer) Tyler, May 11, 2528.'**

The name struck a cord on my heartstrings as I felt a warmth spread along my body. I could feel the Captin standing next looking over the name I touched before a memory played out in my head that made me show a smile if only a small one.

"I remember the story my Mother told me on how she got her callsign." I started retelling. "It was on her first tour of Harvest in 26 at the start of it, she and other Pelican dropship were doing an extraction mission of UNSC army troops that were cornered inside a ruined city that as she put it, 'trapped between a rock and a very bad place.' She was loaded as a heavy gunship to cover ground forces while the other dropship she was with was lightened to accommodate the fifteen that were held up inside of a four-story building. The other ship didn't get a chance to do its thing."

"What happened?" Cuter asked.

"The Covenant set up an anti-air turret in one of the buildings. My mom took it out but not before it took out one of the flight pods on the other Pelican causing it to spin and smashing into a building that was too close to avoid. It was then that three Covenant fighters were barring down on her and booked it. Playing cat and mouse while turning tight corners around buildings as she tried to outmaneuver them, easier said-"

"Not so easily done with a heavy loadout." Cutter finished.

"Exactly, and she claimed she was flying a little over twice the recommended speed a Pelican need to fly safely. While she was flying over the soldiers, the ones she was supposed to pick up a few times and from what their point of view it looked like she was dancing between buildings. But what sealed the deal was when she dived right on top of them firing all of her missiles onto the areas around the building the rap soldiers were held in less than ten seconds and before during a 180 X-axes turn at three times the recommended speed and firing all her downward thrusters in an afterburn effect."

"That sounds like something you see out of an old cartoon." The Captin said in amusement.

"It's how she told it not me," I laughed before continuing. "They ended squishing everyone on board her troop bay and flew out of fast enough to nearly melt her engines. After that, her Captin put a reprimand on her for disregarding flight standards and reckless endangerment of her crew but afterward, everyone started calling her "Dancer" from then on." I finished.

"She sounds like a hell of a pilot, wished I had a chance to meet her. Humanity is less without her, less without all of them." Cutter said as he mentioned all who are written. It was then we went into a moment of silence. Respecting the dead for their service and sacrifice.

"Thank you, sir," I said breaking the silence. "For showing me this and taking the time to help me."

"Your part of the crew now, Tyler."The Captin replied. "I make time for all those under me if there is any. Is there anything else you wish to tell me before turning in your gear before heading to sleep?"

"Just...maybe a moment here before going in. I want to say goodbye first." I replied as I looked back at my mother's name.

"I understand, report to Cryo bay 3 and Serina will get you sorted." The Captin finished before walking away. When I could no longer hear the Captain's footsteps, I gaze hard at my mothers' name.

"Hey, mom" I greeted. "It's me, Ruger. It has been awhile. As you can see I'm all grown up! Not the little boy you were forced to leave. Still, the trouble maker like that always finds himself with either my hand caught in a cookie jar or in some mess way over my head. I still say thing with the Christmas tree wasn't my fault and will continue to deny it."I said half seriously. "I don't know if dad's with you or is still alive at Arcadia. I don't know, but what I do know is that I'm not alone. I took up and be a man about a bad situation and came out on top. And now I have people with me, people that I can walk within these dark times we live in. I use to hate watching you go, and for a time I hated the military that you died for. But now after everything I've seen and been through? Fighting aliens, burning monsters, and blowing up artificial worlds! I think I can understand the thrill as well as the importance in why you left." It was then I felt tears leak from my eyes.

"I miss you, mom. It wasn't the same after you died. The nights felt empty more so when you were deployed with knowing you wouldn't be back. I hope you are watching over all of us even when we're sailing across the heavens." My fingers trailed off the wall before I took a step back, taking in a better sight of all the names that surrounded the one name.

"Goodbye, mom. I have to go to get some rest now. I'll be back when I wake up." I finished before giving one last look before departing. I made it about a couple of steps before stopping and looking at the recent additions and found the five I was looking for.

 **'Sargent Josef E. Irwin February 23, 2531'**

 **'Privet Edward Hawkings February 23, 2531'**

 **'Privet Danny Mansion February 23, 2531'**

 **'Corporal Bengimen Carmine Feburary 23, 2531**

 **'Sargent John Forge February 25, 2531'**

"Thank you, for giving me a chance," I said to the names before turning my back and leaving the deck. It was time for some sleep.

If someone looked hard enough, they could see six bodies standing idly on the other side of the reflection several of them with a sincere smile and one proud look.

* * *

Rement, Patch Island  
(UNSC time) Aprail 20, 2531

'YES! Oh, I can't wait!' Ruby thought to herself as she literally bounced off the walls of her home.

"Jeez, Ruby! Calm down. You just got the letter to be excepted into Signal. I know you've been waiting for this to happen, just wait a few more months and you will be able to join me over at Signal." Yang said in an effort to calm her little sister.

"So says you, Yang. You've already been there for two years and already have your weapons." Reby replied as she pointed at Ember Celica. Yang's super cool golden shotgun gauntlets.

"Don't be jealous Reby. Besides after the teachers at Signal evaluate you on what your good at then you can make one yourself. Maybe have Dad or Uncle Qrow help you out. I know how much you love weapons and I'm sure they wouldn't mind helping you with it." Yang replied to her sister before eyes widen with glee. "Oh, by then you will be ready, and we can talk about any cute boys that catches your eye." Reby just tilts her head to the side in confusion.

"What? Why would any boy''s be doing with my eye?" She asked.

This made Yang feel like an anvil dropped on her head at her young sister's innocence. "Oh, Ruby." She said with a sigh but smiled nonetheless.

* * *

Thanks for reading my story.

Now we are off to Remnant!

I've hadn't thought of if there should be any pairings. Don't expect any pairing like Wightrose or Bumblebee. I don't have a problem with them I just don't know how to wright them with unknowingly ripping off someone else.

Comment down below. I love to hear what people have to say. Just don't be a jerk about it.


	3. Another Humanity?

Halo belongs to 343 RWNY belongs to the poeple of Roosterteeth

* * *

 _Spirit of Fire_  
 _Cryo room 3_  
 _May 2, 2533_

 _'Cold.'_

Was the first thing that came to mind as I felt my muscles began to, "wake up." My body felt stiff and cold as I tried to remember how I got here?

"Time to wake up kid." A voice echoed in my head.

I tell yea, opening up your eyes after an unknown amount of time tends to bite you in the but. The light caused me to jerk back a bit. Squinting, I began to make out a guy in a gray jumpsuit standing in front of me with a hand on my shoulder that I couldn't feel yet.

"Take it slow Tyler. We've been inside for a spell." The man said that was slowly starting to seem familiar to me. Then everything started to come together as I could put a name to the voice.

"Clean?" My voice crocked.

The big heavy gave a low laugh. As I could see him more clearly as he had a put a metal bucket in front of my chest. Why was, OH! A few moments of regurgitation later. Yea... After a few moments of trying to collect myself and get feeling in my body, I looked back at the big guy I went through hell with.

"So what's up, Clean? What's going on?" I asked as I take a few shaky steps out of my pod.

"Well first off we've been drifting in space for the better part of two years," Clean stated, which made my eyes go wide eye.

"Two years?! Then did someone found us?" He shook his head no.

"Sorry Tyler, but no one's found us yet or least not yet," Clean said to my confusion. "From what I found out, a few days ago Serina picked up some stray signals coming from a nearby solar system and alerted the Captain." He explained. "That was two days, after a few hours of study we learned they weren't Covenant or UNSC. So the Captain decided to order everyone up and to their stations. So that what we're doing." He finished as a patted my shoulder.

"Is everyone being woken up late for this or just me?" I asked as I looked around the cryo bay and saw no one else nearby.

"Just you and some of the non-essential personnel. Like the other people from Arcadia are still in cryo.

"Well, if those signals are aliens and not part of the Covenant then maybe we'll meet some friendlier aliens for once." I joked as we walked out of the cryo bay and towards the barracks. That made the heavy laugh. As we walked, I greeted several people on the way and was greeted back. It wasn't long before we ended up in the barracks that I was assigned in.

Sadly, recon team Echo may never revered from their first encounter with the flood. Most of Echo company was filling in for each other prioritizing the larger heavier elements rather than the recon force. It was only a matter of time before recon was split up to fill in any empty positions.

Greeting a few more of the guys I went over and secured my stuff to see if everything was still there. Pulling out both the duffel that they issued me and the bug out bag my Dad set for me, I laid the two down on my bunk. Taking a glance above me, I looked at Carmine's old bunk and sighed. I missed the guy. Him and all the rest of the guys we lost even if I've never really spoken to any of them. He acted like the big brother type around me to which was a welcomed comfort for me to which I will miss.

Taking in one last deep breath, I stripped off my jumpsuit I had on for the cryo pod. It used to you had to go in naked when going into cold storage, due to clothing sticking to the person skin and causing a freezer burn. Then someone came up with the idea of these special jumpsuits to were into the cryo pods with getting that. The only downside I saw to of them is that it was a little tight around the crotch area. With it off, I began dressing in my duty uniform. After strapping the last buckle on my boots, everyone's attention was quickly drawn to into the middle of the room, where Serina.

"Good morning, recon team Echo." She greeted.

"Good morning Serina!" Everyone greeted back. Making the A.I. look amused before she looked at all of us.

"I see that everyone is assembled so I'll give you a full briefing on what you know and what will be happening. As you knew just the other day, I picked up something on the ship's long-range sensors. After boosting power to the sensors and launching a few of the long-range probes we have, I found that it was imitating from a nearby solar system we would be passing through. These transmissions didn't have any UNSC, UEG, or Covenant, so they are an unknown." Then a map showing a solar system appeared. "This the system of which the signals are originating from. There are six plants three from sensors are lifeless rocks, two gas giants, one with asteroid ring and one planet that is suitable for colonizing and is the source of these signals." Now the system disappeared leaving only Serina. "We don't know what we are dealing with, but the Captain has taken a chance for a closer look at this world, and at the chance at obtaining critical resources that the Spirit of Fire desperately needs."

"Elements to build a slip space drive." Said the sole officer in the room. Lieutenant Lee.

"Correct Lieutenant," Serina replied. "Currently the Spirit of Fire's ship factory modules are not able to equip to making the small measurements needed to make a slip space drive. Nor do we have all the materials to make the tools necessary to start building one." She explained. "So in the upcoming missions, we are to send in survey teams to find resource deposits to find some to build us one as well as to finalize repairs to the Spirit of Fire's hull."

That made sense to me. How do you build something with the right tools for it? You can't so you make the right tools for it. Can't do that either? Well go down and find it.

"Whats the Spirits ETA on the planet?" LT Lee asked.

"Two days, six hours at top sub light speeds LT Lee." She responded. "Captains ordered recon team Echo along with several other recon teams to begin scouting out positions once we arrive and they become available."

"Understood Sirena."

"One more thing, Lt," Sirena said quickly catching his attention. She then turned towards me. "Mister Tyler here has been taken noticed by our local representative of ONI." She said, catching everyone including me off guard as everyone's face turned towards me.

"Me?" I said dumbfoundedly.

"Report to Professor Anders lab on the forward observation deck when you're ready, Mister Tyler." She finished before disappearing from the holo.

The room was quiet for a moment before I spoke, "Should I worried, scared or excited about this new assignment?" It was Clean was the one to answer.

"Yes..." he only said.

"Yes to being worried, scared and excited?" I asked to clarify.

"Yes," he repeated.

"...Oh..."

* * *

 _Spirit of Fire_  
 _Prof: Anders Lab_

The elevator doors opened up for me to reveal the "Spooks Lair" as the Marines across the ship have come to call it. From what I've been told it used to be another observation deck that manly the officers were using before the professor took over it. Looking around I can see how that would be.

All around the room stood computers with screens, some connected to glass cylinders with some kind of alien tech in them. Ether Forerunner or Covenant. In the center of the room held a holo table with Sirena on top with Prof Anders and Captain Cutter standing on the other side.

"And here's our last addition to our little meeting," Serina said aloud. Bring the other two out of there conversation.

"Good morning mister Tyler, hoped you have a nice nap." The Captain greeted.

"Good morning to you to sir. Slept a little longer than I like, but I'll get over it." I replied with a bit of humor before asking a serious question. "Sir, may I ask why I'm here? I don't think I have the qualifications or even have a security clearance to be here?" Which is true. The two glanced at each other briefly before the Captain answered.

"What you know about our situation so far, Tyler?"

"Only about as much as what Serina briefed recon team Echo when I was with them," I answered to which the Captain nodded in approval. Then the Prof talked next.

"There's a little more to that then what we've been telling the whole crew. We will brief them on what we recently discovered, but we want to do a test on what you think about it."

"Me?" Alarms started ringing in my head. Something that was inevitably going to turn it upside down.

"We're using you like a little test, to gauge the reactions the crew might have when do or if we make contact with 'them.'" She explained.

"Something tells me things got a lot more complicated," I said half-heartedly. I saw the Captain gave a small scuff of amusement before his face went deadly serious.

"As Sirena probably told you she sent probes to the plant that the signals she picked up came from." The Captain started as he pressed a few buttons on the table, activating an image of a lush garden world with a broken moon in orbit. "The probes made orbit and linked back to the Spirit where Sirena started scanning the signals and gained access to some of them where we found something... startling." The way he said that last bit did not bring me comfort.

"Umm, I'm afraid to ask but what did she find?" The hairs on the neck were rising at the tense atmosphere.

"Humans."

It was like someone ripped a needle off a turntable. "What?"

"That was my reaction to this new development," Sirena said in amusement. "When scanning the singles on the planet, I was able to access them with no problem whatsoever. What I found was like a primitive version that is very similar to the social networks found on earth's back in the 21st century. Much of it was unrestricted and free for me to use and abuse for information. It came to more of a surprise that everything was in English."

My brain was working overtime to process what I've been hearing. Another Humanity? Living separately from the UNSC and UEG? "Innsucection?"

"I thought that at first but there were no ships in orbit or any man-made satellites at all and after further investigations, the data I've seen suggest they've been here for a very long time. From way before we discovered slip space travel. An to what I've been able to tell from accessing their networks, they've had little success in space travel." She clarified.

"Ok, well. As for your initial assessment sir, I am shocked at this new revelation of humans living outside of the UNSC territory. But I think the crew would be alright if you told them and not start a mutiny." I stated.

"That's good to hear, thank you on your personal input on this matter. But that is not the only thing we've found. Whether this "humanity" came from earth or not there is more to it for you." More warning bells started to go off in my head. "There are a few things that we still do not understand about this world, such as some of the terminologies that we've encountered that have been repeated frequently. This is where you'll come in much to my reluctance."

"Sir?" I said in confusion.

"Due to the unique nature of your position with on my ship while also given the fact you are the youngest person on this ship. Professor Anders here has an " _assignment_ " and a mission for you should you choose to accept." Captain Cutter finished as he walked around the holo table and placed a hand on my shoulder. "When your finished and feel like you need to talk about anything ping Sirena and I'll see about finding some time. I'll be on my bridge if you find anything else world shattering professor," With that, he walked towards the elevator and left me alone with the spook. I silently pleaded for him to stay, but the doors to the elevators closed on me. Turning back to the Prof she gave me a once over with her eyes while I did the same. It was also the first time I've physically seen her in person. She was about the same height as me with the same black hair and brown eyes like me.

"Just want to make things clear, Ruger. May I call you that?" I nodded "Thank you, no I don't know what you've heard about ONI, and some of it may be true. But let's get one thing straight, I'm not someone who likes to waste my time with petty things and dose jobs half done. You are here because of several reasons." She started before she started listing them off. "One of which is you are a civilian like myself and have military attachments to the ship itself other than the personal bonds you've created with those you fought along with the Marines. Which leads me to my second point. Despite your age, you've participated in a few ground engagements with the Covenant and parasite infection while staying alive with soldiers that have military training, with some being twice your age. Third, I am the only "Officer of Naval Intelligence' officer on this ship and sadly can't do everything by myself. So I need someone to help with the leg work on the ground while I'm in the labs."

Well, she did bring up a few good points. With me being a civilian as she put out, I have no say in where I go on a military ship. So there is no say in whether or not I'd stay with Echo. Another was her point with how I lasted this long against what we've faced. I'm betting there aren't many civilians who would live to tell the tale if they were in the same spot. "Also there was one last thing..." The Prof said with what sounded like "hesitation, "Uncertainty?" From ONI?

"I'm sorry," _wait wat_?

"Excuse me?" I said dumbfounded. _How many times will my head get flipped today? My poor brain._

"When I was looking through some of the dossiers that Serina gave me you were in it and had shown me why you were on the Spirit of Fire. It was my capture by the Covenant that forced the Captain to make an emergency jump after me. With how air traffic looked over Arcadia and the lack of civilian ships left you were taken with us against your will. With you being a minor and no guardian I've decided to take responsibly of these actions." The Prof confessed, and my head does another flip.

"Um, are you saying that you're going to adopt me?" I clarified, to my surprise she nodded her head. _And another flip._

"In a way yes. It is my fault you are here, and I should be the one to take responsibility for what happened. You and lot of troops have sacrifice a lot in the effort to save me, and I need to do what I can pay you all back. Being your legal guardian and making sure of your well being is hopefully my start to repaying all the damage I've done." She said before she walked up to me.

"I have no experience with dealings with kids or teenagers like you nor am I going to force you into anything, but." She took a deep breath before looking at me straight in the eye. "I'm hoping you'd at least give me a chance. That's all I'm asking. If you agree I'll make sure to do everything in my power to make sure you'll get everything you need."

Well, this had been a heavy carpet bombardment of information. I don't know how to handle all this. Another humanity and being adopted by one only ONI rep on a ship?

' _You know what, f*** it._ ' I thought to myself. I know that my parents wouldn't approve of this but what else am I going to do stranded like we all are? But at this rate what else will have I have to lose? All I have is the clothes on my back at this point, and I don't want to go back sitting in cryo for who knows how long. No thank you.

"Alright, I'll accept your offer for working for you. I don't know what I will be doing, but it probably is better than just sitting here on this ship getting caught up in ship drills. As for the guardianship... I think it would be best if we take things slow on that front." I answered. I saw Anders shoulder slouch a bit at my answer.

"Thank you," she said.

"Don't thank me yet, Professor. I expect my bonus payment in cookies." Anders just rolled her eyes at me. She then went over to a nearby desk, grabbed a tablet and handed it to me. "What's this?"

"If you are going to be working for me, we will need you to catch you up on what we've found so far and through some of the stuff we haven't." She answered. "We have two days to be experts on this world and the clock is ticking. Let's get studying."

 _Why did I agree to this again?_

* * *

If anyone is wondering why I'm dropping all these chapters in this story is because I have had a lot of free time as of late with few responsibility's to uphold. So I'm just typing away like there is no tomorrow. It will more then likely go down sometime in the future but now for I'm on fire!

Also to anyone whose thinking it. I'm a terrible speller and will often get things wrong. I try my best to correct myself and use grammar programs to fix myself and even that is not enough at times. So I ask all of those who read is to keep an open mind while reading ,thank you.

Review comebacks- (Didn't think I'll answer back did yea XD)

3dots- I know I have a grammar problem, even though I use a Program to help it still pops up. *Sighs while head meets desk*

dmandog056- Thank you and sorry if your having trouble following me. I can only ask that to keep an open mind, please.

kmph2001-Thank you and I may just take you up on your offer for I do have an account on Steam. Also I couldn't find any mention of 12g model of M45 in the Fandom pages when I was working on the story. Also yeah I like to avoid a bit of the shipping wars really to the main cast (RWBY & JNPR). I may do a ship of Ruger with another OC or background person somewhere down the line. Have not decided yet. As for Grammar, I'm aware I have a problem and it would be a LOT worse if I didn't have a grammar program I run all my stuff through with it. Thank you for Cutter's out put. I grew up with a father whose also a Navy officer so I get most of my material learning from him. I believe my problems will most likely lie in trying to portray Prof Anders. So that most likely where I'm going to hit a wall down the line.


	4. Good so far

Halo belongs with 343 and RWBY goes to Roosterteeth

* * *

 **Spirit of Fire**

 **Prof Anders Lab (Spooks Lair)**

 **May 25, 2533**

* * *

"This world..." I started to say as I try to rub away the growing migraine in my head. "Is something." It was the nicest thing I could say at the moment with the current company I was in.

"That's certainly putting it in perspective," Serina replied. Obviously amused by my suffering."This world sure seems to have more than its fair share of mysteries."

"No kidding," I said back.

It had now been ruffly three weeks since my little "enlistment" to our resident ONI rep. So far it has been an interesting ride considering all that we've uncovered from the CCTS as the locals call it. From what Anders analyses, it's a joke with many flaws. But one workable seeing how everyone uses it like it was meant to. From a security and military perspective, its an extreme reliability and security issue.

An example would be if say I wanted to spread fear and panic then the CCTS would be a perfect target. Like the tower in the kingdom of Mistral, where its tower is on the edge of a cliff next to a world-renowned school. One good bomb could take out both targets causing both a communications blackout and mass panic.

"Oh boy…"

"What seems to be the matter, Mr. Tyler?" Serina asked.

"Aw, it's nothing Serina. Just being in over my head as usual," I sighed as I felt a migraine come back as I heard Sirena giggle at my predicament.

"Perhaps a break is in order, a trip to the mess followed by a bit of time in the gun range seems to do the trick for you," Sirena suggested. Thinking about it, I had been sitting here for a little over five hours of constant reading on this worlds history or lack thereof. Anders was currently outside looking over the new building we would be moving all of the research of this planet into.

"That sounds just right, What are they serving in mess today Sirena?" I said as I got up from my desk and began stretching my stiff limbs.

"Chef Bor is serving his ship renown pasta alfredo. He's also got his special farm soup with the usual, with some freshly baked bread, green beans, mash potatoes, and mixed fruit gathered from the surrounding investment." She listed.

"Sounds good Sirena, I'll be back in a little bit after I've eaten and released some bit of pent up stress," I said as I made my way for the elevator.

After a ride up and a short walk, I walked into a mostly empty mess. Only a few tables were occupied. I didn't recognize any of them, so I avoided them, grabbed my food and sat at a booth by the window and slowly ate as I looked outside. At mountains and forests outside.

The ship's forges built some giant stilts to land on when we found this gorge, it was big enough to safely land in and kept us out of sight from the rest of the world. Now we're just like everyone else, living on the largest continent called Sanus by the locals. The areas nearby are rich with minerals and ores that we need to repair the ship. Ruffly over two hundred kilometers from any nearby settlements and nearly 400 from one of the four capital cities on this planet.

My mind then went to the kingdoms of this world as I took a bite of my bread.

Atlas, Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral.

All four of kingdoms all have their ups and downs regarding where their world stood. Most of was shaped from their last war nearly century ago are still applied today and work towards a common goal. The Grimm.

I don't know what it is about them, but they give the creeps. Not as bad as the Covenant and nowhere near as back as the Parasite we encounter on that Forerunner world, but still disturbing nonetheless. Last week I went out with my pals over in recon team Echo to hunt some of these to determine how big of a threat they are. From what Anders found there are over a dozen variants of Grimm. The Captain then ordered us to find some of these grim and test our weapons against them. Our first encounter was a pack of what the locals called "Baewolfes," they seemed easily dispatched with small arms fire and explosives. Their one big advantage would be their numbers, anyone no matter how skilled would get overrun by them if not careful. What really brings the kicker is that they seem to "evaporate" after death. That caught everyone off guard. Anders wouldn't believe it if she didn't see it in person and still doesn't believe it after witnessing it herself even, repeating over and over how that shouldn't be possible. When it caused her a headache, she decided to put the study on Grimm on hold and focus on the next thing that caught her attention, Dust.

Now that there is just plain magic.

Dust was like something out of pure fantasy with how it works. I couldn't wrap my head around it with how it works. I know people of this world use it to power their technology, Atlas uses it for everything from powering their air fleet to powering their homes and cars. But some of the things these things could do are just crazy. I swear the stuff is something like out a fairy tale. At least the Professor like it, she can't stop smiling when she's working on the stuff. She once spent nearly two days straight experimenting with the stuff. I had to get Serina to alert the Captain for her to get some sleep. A good thing to form the way her hand was starting to shake from the caffeine while handling those lighting Dust crystals. Finishing up my meal, I downed my water and sat my tray over by the dishwashing sink area.

Walking out of the mess I made my way towards where my bunk was in Echos section of the barracks. The place was pretty empty with most of the marine companies out either clearing the area of Grimm or building fortifications at the Firebases and additional buildings. Despite some complaints, everything was starting to together. From what I know the other day they established a foundry, which is much bigger than the micro forger housed inside the ship. With that, it'll help with the expansion much quicker. With that, they would start building larger parts that are still missing from the port side.

Reaching the barracks, I make over to where I bunk is and started changing into my gear. As I change, my mind started going to over to what a lot of the people on Remnant have, aura.

Now that was another thing I was having trouble with believing. I may not believe in a higher power, and Anders is a member of science rather than a believe of god. At least to my knowledge. But this is something I'm on the fence on. Both my parents believed in God, and the people here say that Aura is a manifestation of the soul and could be projected out like a shield. This I have to see personally, like one of those I have to see it too believe things. It's supposedly supposed to block or lessen any incoming damage the person reserves. Whether it be getting hit with a hammer, deflect the shot of your leg or help you survive a fall from great heights. While also increasing the user's strength and dexterity.

Strapping down the last piece of my gear I walk over to the armory next door where they have both my weapons and the firing range. I soon found the armory Sargent over at his counter typing away on his tablet with a look of concentration in his face.

"Afternoon Sargent Davis," I greeted getting the armory Sargent attention.

"Ah if it isn't my favorite customer. Come to use the range again?" He greeted back. "Are working out or are you shooting?" He asked.

For workouts, I've been doing what the ODST's do. Work out while wearing my armor and a full combat loadout. Sgt. Irwin suggested it would help me faster by the time we would get where we're going, and it had helped me very much in gaining some much-needed strength. Now when I do my workouts, I load all my mags with TS rounds for weight.

"Shooting, Sarge. Need to let off stress."

"The usual?" He asked as he set the tablet down.

"For all three."

"Alright, just give me a sec to retrieve them." He then left towards the back. With him gone my mind went back to the subject of aura. From what was freely give off their networks, a person aura varies from person to person during innate quantity of energy. It was then Davis showed back up with my guns. "Here you are. One M6C pistol with five full magazines totaling 60 12.7 rounds. A standard M24 shotgun with 30 8-gauge shells, and M7 caseless submachine gun with five mags totaling of 300 5x23 rounds. Gallery three is ready for yea, just pick up your brass when you're done."

"I will thanks, Sarg." I then load up my pouches and made my way over to the firing gallery.

Getting ready I walked up to the screen of targets I wished to shoot and noticed a new set of targets on display, Grimm.

"Serina must have just put these in," I muttered as selected an Ursa target. Instantly several little holograms of Ursa appeared 25 meters in front of me. "Really?"

The sight of the little Ursa's the size of teddy bears made me smile at how funny the sight is. Shaking my head at the silliness of it, I raised my M7 and started began the slaughter of teddy Ursas.

While I was shooting my mind began to wander back to the next thing aura eventually gives a person if they can find it, a semblance. I admit, having a superpower unique to you does sound pretty cool. Then again it is also one of those things I have to see for myself.

Switching mags, I fired at some of the mini Ursas on the top shelf.

There was also a section that semblance could be inherited from their parents, like a trademark or family crest. It's ultimately remarkable the known powers that are listed already. Short term invisibility, cloning, portals, the list goes on!

Changing to a new mag on my M7 before switching the targets to little Beowolves. I looked at them and felt sad because they were the size of puppies! Deciding against puppy massacre in the first degree, I switch it over Death Stalkers next, those I felt need to die. So pulling out the M45, I targeted the first one in front of me. " **BOOM!** "

Now a person's Semblance seams to be powered by their aura. " **BOOM!** " And aura is like a muscle that one stretches and strengthens with time like with everything else with the body. " **BOOM! BOOM!** " It all reminds me of combustion engine's I learned in history, with semblance being the engine and aura fossil fuels. The more you put in it, the longer it goes and the harder you push it, the more you get, and more aura you use up. " **BOOM!** " And once more is that anyone with time anyone could find it. Which brings me to the next thing I found out about this world, the Faunus. " **BOOM!** "

Quickly loading my shotgun with six new shells, I then raise it to aim at the next couple of Death Stalker that was just wanting to get shot at. " **BOOM!** "

Humans with animal parts? Deer horns, tiger claws, monkey tails, wolf ears. That list just goes on too! " **BOOM!** " From what the network says, Faunus are similar to humans, except for the fact that they share certain traits with animals. Hence the extra appendages. There also seems to be a trend as some are more common than others. " **BOOM! BOOM!** " Maybe due to what regions they're from? " **BOOM** " One thing that catches my eye is that all Faunus have natural night vision." **BOOM!** "

Reloading the shotgun, I also thought about the number of discriminations between humans and Faunus. Holstering the shotgun my back, I then pulled out the M6C. Switching the targets to the Creeps next.

From what I could find. The discriminations started with humans trying to be superior to Faunus. It reminded me heavily of the start of the second great war in the 20th century. Oh Dad, why did you have to be such a history buff? Personally, I find the whole thing to be stupid. But before I could comment further Serina popped in next to me.

"Mister Tyler. Professor Anders requesters your presents in the lab." Lowering my gun, I looked over at her hologram.

"Is it urgent or do I have time to clean up?" I asked the A.I.

"Urgent. I won't spoil the surprise." The A.I teased. That made me raise an eyebrow. I may not know many A.I's, but this one has one smart mouth "And don't worry about Sargent Davis, I already let him know about the situation. You're free to go."

"Thanks, Serina. Let the Prof know I'm on my way." I replied as I holster my M6C and left my firing lane.

It didn't take me long to reach the lab. Heading there day after day allowed me to know the path well. Upon my entry, I see Prof Anders typing away on one of the computers. She looked away from it and saw me enter, "Ruger thanks for coming back to the lab on short notice." She said as she walked up to the holo table and started pressing a few buttons.

"No probs professor. I asked Serina if it was urgent and she didn't say anything. Whatcha need?" I asked as I stood on the other side of the holo table. It was then Anders pulled up a map of a city.

"This is Vale, one of the kingdoms of this world and the closest one to us." She started to which I followed along. "Due east of the city near the foot of a nearby mountain is one of the worlds most prominent schools. Beacon Academy. Most notably one of the four schools designed to train Huntsman and Huntress." She explained.

"Huntsman," Men and women, trained to master their aura and semblance. While also being one of the deadliest warriors on the planet with the sole purpose is to defend the people of the four kingdoms from the Grimm. "I've read about them from their social networks. What about it?"

"This is part of your new assignment." She replied.

"Pardon?" I looked at her with uncertainty.

"We don't know how long we are going to be staying on this planet and we can only go so far with what we got, and we need every advantage we can of this world. That means we need someone to get boots on the ground look at what they have. Reading and seeing it through a computer screen is good but it doesn't give us the hard facts about everything." She explained, which bring a few good points? Heck, even I don't believe in some of it.

"Ok, what do I have to do?" I asked. It was a legit question. Was I going to walk in take some pictures of thing or steal some books? What she said next put a stop to those thoughts.

"What you'll be doing is going back to school and attending classes."

...Ok...Did not see that coming. "Seriously?" I asked.

"Serina has already but in a set of forged transcript papers for you." She said as a window on the holo-table opened up showing a picture of me. Resting my hands on the table, I leaned forward and got a better look at it.

"Ruger, to be honest with you. We may be stuck on Remnant for a good amount of time before we could make a fully operational slip space drive to be back to the UNSC and tell them what we know. If what we learn here is ligament and could be duplicated then this could help us gain an edge we need over the Covenant and could save lives in the long run... If there is one." She continued to bring up a few more points.

I don't entirely see the UNSC massing the use of aura, but I can still see some of the benefits of having one. Like, say if a Hunter bashes a guy with its shield, instead of killing the guy instantly it just gives him a concussion or a broken bone. And if some soldiers have a semblance, then any ground engagement could be turned to the UNSC in favor pending on what that semblance is.

"Also..." Anders stated drawing my attention back to her. "It's to help you finish your schooling." She then walked around the table and put a hand on my shoulder, much to my confusion. "You didn't get to finish school back on Arcadia due to the Covenant invasion, so this will be your chance to do so. A chance to finish up any studies you didn't get and the chance to act your age and have fun." She then took a step back gave me a small smile. "Now that was your boss talking. As your guardian, this is also entirely voluntary too so I won't force you to go. But you can see the appeal in this. Either stay here and mostly be bored throughout the day as weeks pass us by on the ship. Or go to school with people your age and have fun. Like I said your choice."

"Wow... It's almost like you were trying to guilt trip me into going on an adventure Professor." I said shyly. Anders just smirked back at me, making me sigh as she was waiting for an answer. I'd seen her do something similar when she wanted help from the Captain in doing something. "Alright I accept," I said making the older women smile.

"Excellent," Anders clapped her hand in excitement. "The first day of the year starts off in a week so we have time to get you prepared. Now we just..." She then started listing the things of what they need to do for me to get ready.

But all I could think about is what did I just agreed to?

* * *

 _Hey readers!_

 _Quick note on future chapters and how its going to go down. Manly how teams are set up. In cannon teams are groups comprised of four individuals that are formed to fight alongside one another. Teams are formed at Huntsman Academies with the intention of forming lasting bonds and fostering empathy between team members._

 _While I agree to this method there will be one change to this. Teams of four will not be the norm, in this version of the story it will be the minimum with six being the maximum number._

 _I've seen so many RWBY stories on this site where the writer makes the headmaster forces an OC or other POI on a team of already existing cannon team or stand alone. Not anymore I'm changing the rules right there._

 _Also I am accepting any ideas for OC's people want to bring to show up and when. I've got one so far and if you are PM with details._

 _Also I like to give a shout out to my new friend kmnp2001for helping me with this chapter with some editing I needed._

 _No review replies :'(_


	5. First day

**Halo belongs to 343 and RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth**

 **note: I tried to look up the timeline of what the years were for Remnant and came up with nothing. So I'm making them up until I can find a cannon year number.**

* * *

 **Remnant, Airship in route to Beacon Academy**

 **September 6, 0922 (Local date)**

* * *

"First day of school. Yippy!" I said sarcastically looking out over the city in the distance.

I was currently on an airship heading towards Beacon with the other first-year students. All of them were my age group. Most were human, but I did spot a few of the Faunus and did my best to not to stare too long.

Everyone was talking to someone. Near me, I hear what sounded like two sisters talking to each other from the way they were acting. The blond one sounded excited while the dark redhead sounded annoyed. Across from me, a blond head guy vomited on the ground. My heart went out to the guy; motion sickness was not a pretty sight.

As more me, most seemed to ignore me, even with me wearing the new armor that Prof. Anders had ordered made for me. Due to what the school was about and aura being what it is, wearing armor was optional. I looked down at my newly flashed armor and recently modified weapons.

* **Flashback** *

* * *

 **Remnant,** **Spirit of Fire**

 **Micro Forger 2**

 **May 30, 2533**

* * *

I stared in awe as a smile slowly engulfed my face. It felt like Christmas came early for me as I looked at the three beauties in front of me.

Anders asked the Captain to use one of the ships micro forgers for a time to give me some field equipment I would need for while I'm going to Beacon. I didn't know what I was getting, and now I couldn't be happier. Anders had given me a bunch new equipment for my weapons.

My M6C had been converted to an M6C/SOCOM. The barrel was longer with its built in sound suppressor, muzzle brake, and darkened in its black polymer finish. There was also something below the barrel that I didn't recognize that looked kinda like flashlight and laser pointer but shrugged it off due to cool it looked.

My Dad's M7 got the same treatment as my M6. I spotted a new black polymer finish, was given a suppressor and had the same thing like what was on my M6 that I didn't recognize. All that plus the tac-light and the reflex sight on it look all the more professional.

My M45 didn't get much attention other than the black polymer finish like the others. It did get a tac-light, and another one of those things attach to the side.

"Wow...Is it my birthday?" I asked to which Anders rolled her eyes.

"If I'm sending people out on a mission especially one that has you training against fighting monsters then I make sure they have the right equipment for the mission. Weapons, field gear and," she then flicked a crate open. "Armor."

Inside was a set of ODST armor like the other Helljumpers use. "As a representative of the Office of Naval Intelligence, I can have strings pulled to get people the best they need for any situation, and this is no different." Looking down at it I saw that it was indeed ODST battle armor, but I noticed a few other things I didn't. "As you can already tell, this is slightly different than the ones you've seen the other Marines use. This is the close quarters combat variant of the ODST battle armor CQC and demolition experts. But instead of demolishes, this one has been modified to academic for more ammunition and communication gear."

She then went along and brought out a few of the more notable pieces as we went over them. The helmet was more or less the same as the other ODST's with the exception of an optics camera that aids the user in relaying images back to the Spirit. It also housed a VI that linked to the probes in orbit, giving me navigational data on my current surroundings. The undersuit was the same as well as the leg guards and one of the shoulder pieces. The torso plate had a knife strapped over the collar bone area with multiple pouches along the stomach and chest. There was also a rucksack no bigger than my bug out bag next to it. The other shoulder pad was twice as thick than the other one with a ballistic plate, adding in protecting the wearer while in a firing position. There was also a pair of magnetic leg holsters for each leg to set my for my M6 and M7. Plus everything was also blanked out of all markings so it won't be linked out to the UNSC.

"This... seems to be a bit much don't you think?" I asked. I say this because I've seen a bit how ODST's are attached to their armor.

"If you're worried about any problems with anyone on the ship giving you a hard time about wearing this then don't worry. The Captain already alerted the soldiers so don't worry." Anders assured.

That was a relief. Anders then continued. "There are things about this armor you would get trained with so the Captain is sending someone to help teach you how to wear and use the function-"

"So this is the kid I have to train." Turning to the unknown voice, we see a helmetless ODST walking towards us. He was a tall tan skin man with a rugged five o'clock shadow with a buzzed haircut.

"Are You?" The Prof. questions to which the ODST nodded.

"I'm Staff Sergeant David Gunny. Part of battle group Firestorm under Lt Col Kinsano. Captain Cutter assigned me to teach this little initiate how to properly wear and use our battle armor." Gunny Introduced. "I have soldiers under my command that have sweated blood, sweat, and tears. While you get a free pass. But it ain't my place to question orders...so let's get this started."

* * *

* **Flashback end.** *

Training to use this new armor was exhausting but well worth it. The thing fit me better than the marine body armor I fought in before as hit hugged my body with the weight equally distributed everywhere to the point I can feel it.

Taking the helmet off the hook, I looked into the blue reflective faceplate seeing my reflection in wonder. The VISR will definitely help me in the long run, even though I had to get that damn neural implant in my skull to give it mental commands. The thing will be a big help in the long run. Good thing my hair grew out a bit to can cover it up. Be pretty hard to explain the piece of metal sticking out of the base of my skull. Oh how has everything changed so much in my life?

I sat back on my belt ,then pulled out my forged transcripts. Serina had done an excellent job at making it for me. I then did a re-read of my bio, to make double sure I had a solid cover. But in reality of it, it wasn't similar to my own truth be told. The only difference is my origins as it said I was from Atlas. While both my parents had served and died in the military, which was technically correct.

"Sometimes the best lies are the honest truths," Serina aid to me when she showed me my new background.

My thoughts were drawn out when a 2-D image of a blond-haired woman appeared. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch." The now named Glynda introduced and listened to what she had to say. "You are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend our prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsman and huntresses, it is our duty to uphold it." Glynda explained. "You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world." She finished before her image disappeared.

"Wow, no pressure then," I muttered. I then walked on over to the window with the view overlooking both the city and the country below. It was something with that big body of water in the distance. Vale didn't look that big to me. But then I've seen the megacities on earth, granted that was years ago when I was a kid. Heck, even the cities on Arcadia were more significant than what I see before me.

The view was then soiled when the blond guy dubbed over and puke on the floor near the two girls. With the one with the long blond hair stepping in. I had to turn away from the sight to hide my laughter from them least to be at the end of the wrath of the fiery head girl.

It wasn't long before the airship landed at our stop. As soon as the door opened the blonde vomit comet rushed out to the nearest trash can. Indeed, my heart goes out to the guy. Hopefully, he doesn't make an idiot of himself. Despite me having to keep a low profile I walked up to the guy and patted him on the back.

"Let it out, dude. No sense in keeping it in at this point," I reassured the guy.

"Thanks," the blond moaned as he finished up.

"No prob. I've seen people with motion sickness before. Usually, they have a bag or two in hand before a flight."

"Perhaps I should have thought of that." The blond then turns to look at me with a smile and held his hand out. "Jaune Arc." He introduced himself as I got a good look at him.

Jaune wore a black hoodie under some knight themed armor over his shoulders and chest. It looked thick from my angle and stable to boot. The dude even a sword on his waist.

"You're going to have to wash that hand before I shake it Jaune," I replied while taking a step back while giving a little laugh. "Sorry, buddy ain't touching that those hands till you get them washed." I then pulled out a packet of hand wipes and handed him one. "Use this, and the names Ruger."

"Nice to meet you, Ruger. And thinks," Jaune greeted back while he cleans his hands. Our little greet was then interrupted when a small explosion occurred near of us. Acting on instinct, I drew my SMG from my side and pointed in its direction.

I expected to see were dead bodies. Instead, I'm looking at a girl in white snapping at the redheaded girl I saw earlier. Looking back at Jaune I inclined my head over to the two with a "What you think that was about?" And he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. As he to was confused. Holstering the M7, I motioned my hand for him to follow.

By the time we caught up to them, the white hair girl was storming off with a girl with large black bow walk not too far from behind with her stuff leaving Red collapsing on the ground and catching the last thing she said, "Welcome to Beacon..."

"That certainly is one way to start a school year," I commented, getting the girls attention. I led a hand down to her. "Need a hand?" The girl looked at it and smiled as she grasped it as I brought her up getting a better look at her. The first thing I noticed about her was her eye color. They were gray, no, silver in color, that's something you don't see too often, if ever. The next was the red cape she had on that went down to her knees where I saw a black and red skirt and black boots. She was also surprisedly light.

"Thanks, I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose" She greeted.

"Ruger Tyler," I greeted back.

"Hey... I'm Jaune" Jaune greeted the redhead.

"Ruby, nice to meet you," she greeted back. Ruby inclined her head slightly before eyes widen a little, "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

That did it, as my head flew back as I laughed.

When I calmed down, I saw Ruby giggling, and Jaune looked annoyed as we started walking towards the school. It was then Jaune wanted to start an argument to help his case with the red girl. Which wasn't getting any traction after a while as I let the two have at it.

"All I'm saying is motion sickness is a much more common problem then people let on!" Jaune explained.

Reby just laughed. "Look, I'm sorry! But vomit boy was the first thing that came to mind." She apologized.

"Hey, what if I called you Crater Face!" Jaune countered.

"Hey, that explosion was an accident!" She countered.

"To be fair I was thinking of vomit comet when I first saw you," I said, letting my two credits in the conversation. This made Ruby struggle not to laugh.

"Well, the names Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, roles off the tongue - ladies love it." He once again introduced himself while he struck a pose. I had to bit my lip from saying something, and this guy was trying too hard. Ruby wasn't.

"Do they?" She asked.

"They will! Well At least, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that... Never mind." Jaune said, tripping over his worlds.

"Please stop," I deadpan at the guy while trying so hard not to laugh again. This guy was just too much. "Never mention your Mom guy. You lose everything if you do."

Ruby giggled before a short silence occurred between the three of us.

"So..." Ruby started before pulling something from her waist, "I've got this." It was then she pulled out a massive red and black scythe that planted in the ground. Surprising both Jaune and me.

"Whoa! Is that a scythe?!" Jaune asked, his voice displaying in slight fear and awe, to which I don't blame him in the slightest. Heck, the thing was bigger than the girl holding it.

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle!" Ruby explained.

"A what?" Jaune asked in confusion.

"It's also a gun," Me and Ruby at the same time.

"Oh, that's cool!" Jaune said in amazement; I rolled my eyes a little at the guy.

"So what you got?" Ruby asked the guy, sounding quite excited.

"Oh! I, um..." I see Jaune stammer before drawing his weapon. "I've got this sword."

"Ooohhhh!" Ruby said excitedly.

"Yeah, and I got this shield, too!" He said as he raised his scabbard that suddenly popped outwards into a kite shield.

I had to admit, not as cool as Ruby's but differently something.

"So, what do they do?" Ruby asked as she touched the edges of the shield.

That somehow started making the shield go crazy and fly out of Jaune's hands, as he fumbled all over the place as he tried to keep it in his hands. He quickly got it settled and letting it retract in his hands. "Well," he started as he tried to answer Ruby's question. "The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying, I can just... put it away..." He explained.

"But... Wouldn't that weigh the same?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah...it does." He replied dejectory.

"Nothing else?" I asked catching him off a bit. "Nothing for range?"

"Um... I'm not very good with guns..."

A look of disbelief was on my face as I looked at him. I've seen the Grimm when they get near the firebases, and they take more than a few shots to down one. But this guy wants to fight them with a sword? I'm not sure if that's stupid or brave.

"Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, so... I guess I did go a little overboard in designing it." Ruby explained. Both Jaune and I looked at her in disbelief.

"You made that?!" I said in amazement.

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons!" Ruby explained, "Didn't you guys make yours's?" She asked.

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it in the war." He explained. While I was pretty sure my eye was ticking for what Jaune was doing.

That sword must be pretty well made, Jaune or your ass would already be Grimm food. I thought.

"Sounds like a family heirloom to me!" Ruby laughed. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics." She said.

"She's right on both accounts," I agreed.

"Y-yeah, the classics..." Jaune weekly agreed, sheathing his sword.

"What do you have, Ruger?" Ruby asked me. I knew that question was coming when weapons became the main topic. Since they showed me theirs, I'll show mine.

"Well, first I have this," I pulled out my M6 and showed it to them. I swear there were stars in Ruby's eyes as I began to explain a little bit about it. "This is " _Whisper_."" I learned that huntsmen name their weapons to identify them, like a name to a face sort of deal, so I went and did the same. "My dad got me her a few years ago. She's a small little semi-auto pistol with a suppressor and muzzle break. If a Grimm sees me coming then the only thing they hear next is them falling to the ground." I holstered it and reached behind my back, pulling the M45. "This is her younger brother "' _Buck_.' While Whisper likes to be quiet, Buck likes it loud. He is for when things get nasty, and I need some personal space." Holding it in front of the two, Jaune looked at the black polymer in awe while Ruby... had slobber coming out of her open mouth.

"Um, Ruby?" I said napping her out of her trance and hinted at the corner of her mouth. She got the hint and quickly wiped it away as quickly as she could with an embarrassed look. "Smooth."

"What about that one?"

Our attention was brought over to Jaune, "Humm." I hummed at him. He points to my dad's weapon. Drawing it, I held it out for the two to look closely at it.

" _Legacy_ ," Turning it over from side to side. "Belong to my father...one of the few things I have left of the man..." I sadly explained. "She won't hit as hard and loud like Buck. Or as precise and quiet as Whisper. What she WILL do is leave any and all in her wake with as many holes as she wants no questions asked. Fire as fast as it takes to gets the job done no matter how big or ugly the monster may be."

Looking up from my little show speech, I was that Jaune was looking at me with a mixture of awe and sadness. Seeing that he realized what my words meant. Ruby. I swear her eye looked like they doubled in size as she had taken a liking to my guns. She then blinked in confusion after a moment, looking like she got what I was said.

"You said left, does that mean?" Ruby asked to which I nodded. She then walked hugged me to my surprise. "I know what it's like," she started ash pulled herself away as I looked down at her in surprise. "I lost family too, and I like to think that they are still with us. Watching over us and supporting us from the other side, supporting us while we're still here."

... _Wow, I don't even._

"...That was cliché, Ruby... Thanks," I said back. Giving the girl a smile to which she returns one herself.

"Your welcome," Ruby said back before she looked sheepishly to the side. "By the way... Why did you guys help me back in the courtyard?" Ruby asked as we back walking again.

"Well, why not? My mom always says strangers are just friends you've haven't met yet." Jaune replied.

I'll have to remember that one, I thought to myself. "I was just being a nice guy. It's like my one true weakness." I said. "Now that that's out of the way we should go where they're starting this get together?" I asked the two.

"Oh, I don't know. I was following you guys." Jane replied. Looking at Ruby, I saw her looking anywhere else but at us. "Y-You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Maybe some landmark?" He asked to which Ruby giggled at his expense. "Is, um...that a no?" He asked.

"Yea, that's a 'no.'" Ruby replied, still giggling like the little girl that she is.

"How about we find where the crowd is going?" I said as I saw a few other students wall to what I had to assume was the main building.

"T-That would probably be a good idea," Jaune said the three of us walked over.

We walked in silence as we entered the building to what has to Beacons auditorium. The place was filled to the brim with people. My attention was the caught when Ruby's name was called out. Looking over I see the long hair blond waving Ruby over.

"Oh!" Ruby said in excitement before turning to Jaune and me. "H-Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you guys after the ceremony!" She said as she left us.

"Hey, wait!" Jaune called out after her but was already gone. "Ah, great. Now, where am I supposed to find a nice quirky girl to talk to?!" He said as he moved on to a random direction while I hung back observing more of the people around me.

I tried counting how many people were here, but more people kept showing up and made everyone hard to keep track. One thing I noticed was that everyone was armed with something. There were some with swords like Jaune has while others have an assortment of pistols and rifles. It was indeed interesting to see as they were all unique in their own and seemed to fit the individual to some regard.

Looking over to my recently made friend I watch as she was conversing with what looked like the white-haired girl from earlier. The two seemed like they were arguing about something. Getting close I hear the tail end of the conversation as the Whitey was holding a pamphlet out to Ruby. "You really want to start making things up with me?" She asked Ruby.

"Absolutely?" Ruby replied with an unsure voice.

"Read this and never speak to me again," Whitey retorted s she handed Ruby the pamphlet.

 _Wow... what a jerk._ I thought of the girl.

"Look, um," The blond hair started. "It looks like you two had gone off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" She suggested to which I raised an eyebrow at.

"Yea! Great idea, sis" Ruby said to the now confirmed sister. She then put away the pamphlet and held out a hand out to the girl while she cleared her throat. "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!" She offered to the newly named "Weiss."

"Yeah and we can paint our nails and try on new clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond and scraggly over there," Weiss suggested with a subtle layer of sarcasm as she pointed over at Jaune, that wasn't lost to me that Ruby didn't seem to catch.

"Wow! Really?!" Ruby asked with a hope-filled voice.

Weiss just looked back at Ruby with a glare, "No."

 _Ok, this chick just earned a promotion to bitch. Hate to be roommates with her and pitied those who are._ Was thinking about getting in there and backing Ruby up when a microphone screech grabbed everyone's attention.

Up on stage stood two people. One was Glynda, and the other was an older man with silver-gray hair wearing a black dress suit and a green scarf around his neck that rested on his shoulders. I recognize him from the man as the headmaster of the school, Professor Ozpin. He also had a black cane he leaned on in front of him while he fixed his glasses just before speaking.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have all traveled here today in search of knowledge. to home your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But when I look amongst you, all I see is wasted energy, in need of a purpose." This made everyone in the audience whisper to each other. I didn't know what to think to either. "You assume that knowledge will free you from this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." The headmaster finished as he stepped to the side and walked off, leaving the crowd confused and speechless.

Ms. Goodwitch then took a step forward and spoke next. "You will gather in the Ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She finished before walking away.

"He seems kind of...off?" Said Ruby sister.

"It almost like he wasn't even there." The redhead agreed.

"Not the most uplifting speaker is he," I said, making the girls jump back in surprise.

"Ruger!?" Ruby said as she looked at me. "How long have you been standing there?!" She asked. I decided to smile and mess with her a bit.

"I've always been here, Ruby. You just don't look behind you." I replied with a witty smile.

"I'm a natural blond, you know!" Jaune popped out and said to Weiss.

To which she put her hand to her face in response before walking away.

"Smooth, Jaune. Smooth." I deadpanned.

"So..." I looked back and saw the blond sister looked at me with her lilac color eyes. "Ruby, when did you find the time to meet tall, dark and armored?" She asked.

"Hehe," Ruby nervously laughed. "Yang. This is Ruger. Ruger this is my older sister Yang." She introduced. "We met earlier at the front after you ditched me and we talked for a bit."

"See! I knew you would make some friends," Yang said as she pulled her sister in a hug. "And he aint that bad of a looker too, sis." I hear Yang whisper loudly to Ruby, to which Ruby hissed out her sister name in embracement. I quietly listen to the two go back an forth as Yang teased Ruby. It was then I felt my implant receive a 'ping' motion. Signaling that someone was trying to contact me, most likely the Professor or Serina.

I am never going to get used to that. "It's nice to meet you, Yang," I greeted back, catching the girls attention. "But I'm getting a call that I need to answer. You girls wanna hang out later if we both passed this 'Initiation' test they have for us?" I offered.

"Sure, my sis needs more friends around Beacon. But hey we could get put on the same teams? Later Ruger," Yang said as I walked away towards the nearest exit.

Was I was out, and no one was around, I un-clipped my helmet off my belt before putting it on and activating the radio. "This is Echo 2-9 calling _Spirit of Fire_. You guys rang?" I said to my receiver, a moment later I received a reply.

"Spirit of Fire _here, we're receiving you Echo 2-9. How's school going along Ruger_?" Asked the ship A.I.

"Going well so far, Serina. The Professors have us all grouped up and sleep in the school's ballroom for tonight. I tell yea this place looks and feels like an actual castle. I also made a few friends in the last few minutes." I replied.

" _Well good to hear_ ," Serina said joyfully. Or as joyful one can get from an Artificial Intelligence. " _Boy's your age need plenty of those when going to a new school._ " I snorted at her playful manner. Before I could speak again, a new voice entered the conversation.

" _I trust these_ 'friends' _won't interfere with your mission?_ " Said the Professor.

"That depends, Professor. I heard a bit that they're going to put us into teams tomorrow after we do some initiation. I'm guessing that this is a combat school they are going to evaluate us on our combat skills." I informed them.

" _Makes sense, don't want anyone just entering into there school without having some measure of skill._ " The professor analyze. " _What of the students, what are they like?_ " She questioned.

"VERY diverse group of people. Like a bunch of senior high school students from everywhere, both Human and Faunus."

" _What are they like?_ " Anders asked.

"I haven't had much time to observe them; they seem to be a minority around here," I answered. "It's weird seeing people with bunny ears and wolf tails that are actually apart of them."

" _So the data we have is confirmed?_ "

"To the T. I saw bald head Faunus with goat horns out of his head that looked natural to me when I walked by him," I said, remembering my little walk around the city before getting on the airship.

" _Well, that was all I wanted to know. I'll let the Captain know you are doing alright._ " Anders said.

" _Also, Mister Tyler_ ," Serina joining the conversation. " _We'd like you set your optic's on to live stream so we may view how this initiation you mention will work._ "

"Is this for work or pleasure?" I joked.

" _Yes._ " The smart(ass) A.I replied. I could practically feel the professor's eyes roll from here.

"Alright, I'll live stream my camera and one of the probes in orbit can pick it up. Now I've got to go to the weapons room and store my weapons. Teachers don't want a bunch of students in an enclosed area with a bunch of weapons." I said.

" _Roger that Ruger, good luck out there._ Spirit _out_ " Serina said before terminating the line.

"Well then, let's see what tomorrow brings," I said before making my way to the ballroom.

* * *

 **Remnant, Beacon Cliffside**

 **September 7, 0922** **(Local date)**

* * *

Setting my helmet on my head, I followed behind the other students as we made towards the edge of Beacon. Honestly, I was a bit nervous about the whole thing. Like why are we out here instead of doing this inside the school? Questions like that happened as I set up the live stream with the Spirit and received a definite 'ping' back.

" _Hello Ruger_ ," Greeted the ship A.I. " _How's your morning going?_ " She asked.

"Never a dull moment." I loudly whispered in my helmet. I know my helmet muffles my voice a lot and has a microphone for the external speakers but to be safe. "We're just about to start the initiation process. Do you have a visual?"

" _Receiving your feed five by five. Where are you currently heading?_ " She asked.

"Beacon Cliff. It's a spot overlooking a forest nearby." I replied. "Say Serina, who else is watching this?" I asked as some of the students began to step on metal squares, each bearing the crest of the Vale. I quickly went over and stood on an open one between a blue haired girl with a bob cut style with a blue hoodie and some interesting looking rifle with a blade on her back. And a male Faunes with gray hair, heavy red jacket and something large on his back.

" _Well besides me. I've got it up on one of the main monitors for the bridge staff and the Captain to view, along with all the rec rooms on the Spirit of Fire and the Barracks at the firebases so everyone can watch._ " The A.I told me to my horror. I was lucky I was already standing; otherwise, I'm pretty sure I'd trip over my feet.

"W-What?!" I rasped.

" _Hello, Ruger_ ," Greeted the ship, Captain. " _Ready for your big day at school?"_ I swear the guy had on a smile that was made to embarrass young kids like they were on their way to school.

"Um, yes sir!" I replied. "I hope everyone enjoys the show." All conversation ceased when the Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch walked in front of everyone to begin speaking to everyone.

"For years, you have trained to become the warriors, and today, those abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin explained.

"Like a rite of passage," I whispered in agreement.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard of the rumors about the assignment of ' _teams_.' Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be receiving teammates...today." Goodwhitch confirmed.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," Ozpin further explained.

"That makes sense. Don't want to be with anyone that doesn't click with yea." Agreeing with more of what they were saying.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact after your landing will be your partner for the next four years," Ozpin said.

"WHAT?!" I along with a few others in the student crowd said in shock.

" _That's a terrible idea,_ " I heard Captain Cutter said in shock over my receiver.

"Whether you're partnered with someone or not. Your first objective is to make way towards the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Ozpin warned.

The sudden weight of this whole situation was starting made its presence known.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of your path containing several relics. The pair or individual that does not have a partner must retrieve one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard this item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Ozpin asked. I thought I heard Jaune down the row from me try to ask a question, but Ozpin cut him off. "Good! Now take your positions." He instructed.

I watch as students around me put themselves in sort of combat stance or striking pose on the metal plates. Not know what I was doing, I followed suit by drawing Buck of my back in a low ready position.

Then the person next to me was suddenly launched in the air at incredible speeds.

"Oh, shh **hHIIIIITT!** " I screamed.

It was then the weight in my stomach was gone and wondered if I could spot the _Spirit of Fire_ from this height.

* * *

 **Special thanks to kpmh2001 for helping clean up with my work. Go over to his page and have a go at his stories.**

 **Holy crap that was a long chapter. I had to deal with few personal problems with my computer and my home but I got it done.**

 **Ruger's gear.**

 **ONI ODST armor CQC variant.**

 **Whisper - M6C/S**

 **Buck - M45**

 **Legacy - M7S**

 **Reviews responses**

 **dmandog056- Thank you for your opinion. I know working in four man teams seams easier but four people can only do so much. That's why I'm mixing things up a bit.**

 **VGBlackwing- Thank you for your analyze of Remnant and UNSC. You brought out a number of Pro's and Con's that the UNSC could exploit. A lot of Huntsmen and Huntresses like to think their hot shit and invincible.**


	6. Not what I sighed on for

**Remnant** , **Emerald Forest**  
 **September 7, 0922**

* * *

 _Pain...pain and darkness was my life_.

A light started to make its way through it, and the sky greeted me. There was muttering sound somewhere in the background. Blinking away the darkness, suddenly I became aware of my surroundings and how I ended up here.

The Initiation. The school teachers launched us all off a cliff. Who does that!?

Looking around, I saw I was floating in a creek. Very carefully, my body started to move. With an outreached hand I felt the bottom of the stream I was in and pushed myself up. By this point, I could understand the muttering, and it was my radio.

" _Ruger! Are you alright?!_ " It was the Captains voice.

"I'm...I'm here sir," I said in a raspy voice. "Just catching my barrings. How long was I out?"

" _Just under two minutes, Mr. Tyler_ ," Serina answered. " _You are lucky to be alive._ " I laughed at that.

"I think I used up all the luck I had for the rest of my life, "I replied.

Setting my feet under me, I pushed my self in a standing position. Looking at my HUD readout, I saw that my health readout was somewhere in the middle. Looking down at my legs, I saw that I still have _Whisper_ and _Legacy_ on my left and right legs respectfully. Reaching to my back for _Buck_ I hit nothing but air. Realizing I'm one gun short, I looked around in the water for it till Serina gave me a hint for it.

" _If you are looking for your shotgun, try using your VISR to locate it faster._ " She advised.

That's right! The VISR's low-light vision enhancement. The thing supposed to highlight stuff around me. Enemies as red, allies as green, objects of interest as yellow and weapons highlighted as blue!

Switching it on, I saw my world get a bright highlight of everything. Looking through the water, I saw it a few feet away in the water. Still feeling the pain from my rough landing, reached down and retrieved _Buck_ while flicking the VISR off. Good thing all my weapons are waterproof.

" _Take it easy Ruger_ ," The Captain advised. " _You just went through something not so easily shrugged off._ "

"Speaking of, how am I alive? I blacked out and don't remember falling."

" _According to the VI in your suite, you flew over an impressive 4.2 kilometers before striking a heavily brush tree, slowing your momentum down enough to land at an exceptional deceleration to increase survivability in the two-foot stream you are currently standing,_ " Serina explained.

"Sounds about right," I said.

Looking at my compass. I turned my head north where I'm supposed to go and started working my way out of the steam. I was lucky my body suit was rated for vacuum as the water didn't enter. Now on some relatively dry ground, I started to march my way north.

As I marched, the pain in my body slowly started to ease up in time as the minutes ticked by. Then out in the distance, I hear the sound of gunfire going off in rapid succession. Must be the other students fighting something, Grimm most likely remembering what the Headmaster said. Thinking of a plan, I switched out _Buck_ for _Legacy_. If I run into any trouble, Buck would attract more to the fight, a silenced weapon would be better for avoiding contact. Then I heard it.

A low growling reached my ears causing me to stop. Flicking my VISR back on I scanned the area looking for what was making it, and there I saw red. Not much due to the bush it was hiding in, just enough that I saw it the pair of black ears and red eyes. A second later it knew it was spotted and left cover revealing the Beawolf from underneath.

From my knowledge of Beawolfs, is that they were pack predators. If there was one, then there was definitely more nearby. Meaning this was something of a scout in a sense.

It was then that the lone Baewolf charged at me. I squeezed the trigger of _Legacy_ , the 5x23mm rounds pierced the underbelly of the Grimm making it cry out in pain before slumping to the ground dead.

"Well, that's one. Two billion to go." I joked. My joking was put on hold when two more appeared from the bushes. "Crap, this is one of those take one down two more take its place sort of things, is it?" I got a growl in return.

The one on the right charged first, and I gave it the same treatment as the first. The other got a little closer then I like as is swiped a claw at. Quickly ducking under the attacking claw, I rolled over to its side and unloaded the remainder of the clip in its chest.

"That was a little closer than I like," I said.

Reloading with a new clip in _Legacy_ , I moved past the dead Grimm and hurried off north deep into the forest. I was lucky in handling with those three Beawolfs. Any more then that and I would have been in trouble.

" _Good work Ruger_ ," Captain Cutter said over the receiver. I actually forgot that I was still transmitting.

"Thank you, sir," I replied.

After a few minutes of a forced march through the woods. I'd encountered no other Grimm other than the three from earlier. It wasn't long before a clearing was opened up to me, revealing a clearing with circular stone ruins.

"I think I found my objective," I said.

" _Looks like it_ ," Serina said. " _Wanna go have a look and addition will be on radio silence so you can keep focused on your task at hand. Good luck_." I nodded and started walking through the clearing. Then a thought occurred, if this is the temple then where are the other students? Walking closer I've noticed several broken stone pillars that have fallen over and sunken into the ground through time. Reaching the inside, I found a ring of small platforms each holding something unexpected on them.

"Playing cards and chess pieces?" I said in confusion. "These are what I nearly died to get?!" I felt a little angry and kicked a nearby rock.

Looking at the cards I examined each of them, there was jacks, kings, queens, and the assortment of chess pieces between. Since I didn't find me a partner, I reached out and picked up the queen of spades card. I then held the queen up to my face and remembered a cadence some of the army personal sung when they did a run around the hanger deck one time.

"Queen of battle follow me, for nothing this life is free, it's why I joined the infantry," I sang.

"Pretty catchy there," someone behind me.

Turning to the voice, I saw the familiar form of Yang and a new girl wearing a black bow I have yet to meet.

"Yang?!" I said in surprise. "Good to see you made it!"

"Hi Ruger, "Yang replied happily. "How's your time here going?" She asked as she walked over and examines one of the cards on the platforms.

"Could be better," I shrugged off. "Didn't land quite like I wanted."

"Ruff patch of trees?" Yang guested.

"Followed by a watery final approach, " I finished. Making both the girls visibly cringe.

"That explains the smell." The bow girl said with Yang nodding in agreement.

"That is probably the murky creek water I was in," I said. "Didn't get your name?"

"Blake," she replied in a monotone voice. Looking her over, she had long black hair with a black bow on to. Around her waist, I saw a few pistol mag pouches, and on her back, she had some kind of sword with some type of mechanism just above the hilt and a ribbon at the end. She also had Amber colored eyes.

"I'm Ruger. Nice to meet you," I greeted back.

"Would be nice if I could put a name to a face," Black asked with narrowed eyes.

"Huh? Oh!" My helmet! I still have my visor polarized down. I holstered Legacy and depolarized my faceplate showing my face. That caught both of them off guard. "Better?"

"How did you do that?!" Yang asked. Her face had a look of fascination as she looked over me making me laugh.

"The helmet and armor I got is from a defunct project that the Atlas military threw out," I lied to them. If anyone were to find out about me, then a lot of questions would need to be asked. "You wouldn't believe the kinds of stuff their military throws away out of their R&D labs." My answer seems to satisfied Blakes curiosity as Yang goes over and picks up one of the cards, this one showed the king of spades.

"Wanna go with the king?" She asked Blake.

"Sure," Blake replied with a smirk. Yang picked up the card and walked over to us.

"Well, that wasn't so hard!" Yang said.

"It's not like this place is so hard to find," Blake replied before she looked around.

"Anyone with a sense of direction could find this place," I said. That and the internal compass in the HUD.

It was then we heard a girly scream out in the distance.

"Some girl is in trouble! Blake, Ruger did you hear that?" Yang asked us to which I nodded and drew _Whisper_ with my left hand and handed it over to my right. Looking over at Blake I saw she wasn't doing anything but looking up. Tilting my head in confusion, I looked up as well and saw a big black bird.

A really big. Black. Bird.

"Guys, I said did you hear that?" Yang asked as she turned to both Blake and me as we continued to stare upwards as something dropped off of the bird. "What should we do?" She asked.

Blake just pointed upwards as I stared in disbelief as a familiar red cape girl fell from the sky screaming, "Heads uuuuup!" Ruby screamed as I was witnessing her fall to her death. And I could do nothing but watch in horror.

Then out of nowhere, Jaune, of all people comes flying through the air and crashes into Ruby, knocking her off course and sending them both into a nearby tree. Leaving me god smack.

"What the..." I started but couldn't finish my sentence of how random this was.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang as we looked at the tree the two teens landed in.

"I..." Yang said unsurely.

Before she could continue, several crashes came from the forest as a large raging Ursa appeared, claws out and swiping the air. Right as a pink explosion occurred from its back and crashes into the ground. Dispensing its rider.

"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" An orange head girl cheered as she rolled off of the creatures back, then getting back up and growled, looking sad for some reason that is beyond my comprehension. "Awww...it broke." The girl said with a sudden voice. It was then another guy showed up behind the girl wearing a green long sleeve shirt.

"Nora! Please... don't ever do that again." The guy said to the girl. But the girl had already moved over to us and looking at one of the rook chess pieces.

"Oooooh..." She then picks up the piece. And starts singing while making a couple of dance moves.

" **NORA!** " The green shirt guy screamed. This made 'Nora' stop dancing and turned to her partner.

"Comming Ren!" Nora said going over to 'Rend.'

"Did that girl just ride all the way here on an Ursa?" Blake asked.

"I/Um..." Yang and I said in unison unsurely this time.

The moment was once again interrupted when we all heard a screech tear through the air. Turning to the source on the far side of the clearing, I a crimson haired girl run with one big Death Staker on her tail battering aside trees as it chased her as she dodges its giant pincers. "Jaune!" The redhead calls out.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune called back.

The Ruby falls right in front of our little growing group. "Ruby?!" Jaune called out.

"Ruby!?" Yang said in surprise as Ruby stood up from the ground to see her sister.

"Yang!" Ruby said happily as the two got in close for a hug.

"Nora!" Nora announced herself, popping up suddenly between the two sisters and knocking them over.

Looking back at 'Pyrrha' she was going toe to toe with the Death Staker using nothing more than a shield and a spear.

"She's crazy going up against that thing by herself?!' I said as she ducks and dodges out of the way before running away from the Grimm.

"Did she really just run all the way here with a Death Staker on her tail?" Blake asked.

It was at that moment, Yang erupted into flames surprising the hell out of me. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for like two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" She demanded at everyone.

It was like a ticking clock was sounding off at this moment. While Ren dragged a dizzy Nora with him over to us while I looked at Yang, fascinated aw at what must be her Semblance for the first time seeing it, while Ruby and Blake were looking up.

"Um... Yang?" Ruby said as she tugged at her sister sleave, making her and the rest of us look up. Up above I see a familiar white dot on the leg of a Nevermore. Using my HUD's x2 zoom feature, I can now see Weiss of all people holding on for dear life.

"How did she get up there?" I said in both wonder and confusion.

"How could you leave me?!" I heard Weiss shouted.

"I said 'jump!'" Ruby shouted back.

"She's gonna fall," Blake said.

"She'll be fine," Ruby assured.

It was then Weiss let go of the giant bird.

"She's falling," Ren said.

We'd all watch Weiss fall through the area only for Jaune too once again 'save' the girl, slowing her decent for a softer landing. Just for him to fall flat on his face and Weiss on his back.

"Ok, that had to hurt," I said with a wince. That guy is going to have back problems when he gets older.

It was then the Death Staker hunting Phyrra bashed the girl away from all the way across the clearing just to land in front of us. "Great! The gangs all here! Now we can all die together!" Yang said.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said before rushing out at inhuman speeds that would impress a spartan while shouting a wordless battle cry. Crossing the distance between herself and the Death Staker.

"Ruby wait!" Yang called out to her.

While Ruby ran I notice she was firing her weapon behind her, propelling her to go even faster. Smart.

When the two met, the Grimm swiped at her, stopping Ruby cold and knocking her back.

"Don't worry! I'm fine!" Ruby called back

"No, she's not!" I said as I switched weapons and raised _Legacy_ to cover the girl but couldn't fire due to the risk of hitting Ruby. It was then that Ruby got smart and started to run away from the Grimm.

"Ruby!" Yang called out to her sister before running after her.

"Wait! Damn it!" I cursed before holstering the _Legacy_ and drawing _Buck_ and running after Yang.

Looking up I saw the Nevermore above us and shooting down giant feathers at Yang.

"Yang, wait!" I had just reached her in time to avoid a rain a sting of Nevermore feathers hitting the ground in front of us. Looking past her I saw Ruby's red cape get caught by one of the feathers.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang cried out.

"I'm trying!" Ruby called back, struggling with her cape.

"Lose the cape!" I shouted.

The Death Staker got in close to Ruby, raising its stinger above the girl ready to end her.

"Ruby!" Yang cried out again we could do nothing but watch helplessly as the happy girl we knew was about to die before our eyes.

It was then a white blur rushed past us and reached the stinger just it was about to make contact with Ruby. It was then Weiss appeared stabbing the ground in front of the red cloke girl making a wall of white ice suddenly appear.

"You are so childish!" Weiss snapped at the girl.

"What?" I said. Now confused at the current event.

"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." Weiss continued to berate Ruby as she removes a fencing sword from the ice wall. "And I suppose I can be a bit.. difficult... but if we're going to do this, then we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer." She offered.

"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this," Ruby explained.

"You're fine," Weiss assured before walking away and past Yang and me. It was then that Yang snapped out of her stupor and rushed at Ruby bring her in a tight loving hug.

Getting around the wall of ice I saw that the Death Stalker was struggling to free itself from its ice.

"Whoa..." I said in awe before turning back to the sisters. "Girls, I think its time for us to go," I said before we rushed back to the others. When we got back, the Nevermore above us made its presence known.

"Guys, that thing is circling back! What do we do?" Jaune asked the rest of us. Surprising me, it was Weiss with the answer.

"Look, there is no sense dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us," Weiss explained as she pointed at the relics.

"She's right," Ruby spoke next. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs." Ruby agreed, nodding to Weiss. "There's no point in fighting these things," she said.

"Run and live - that's an idea I can get behind," Jaune said.

"I rather like the 'live today fight tomorrow' approach also," I said.

Ruby and Jaune then ran up and grabbed a relic for each of their pairs.

"Time we left," Ren said.

"Right," Ruby said before waving us to follow her. "Let's go!" She said before taking off with the rest of us following behind her into the forest. I was running as fast as I could to stick with the others. They were pretty quick, then again I'm in armor, and they're not.

It didn't take long for us to exit the forest and enter another set of ruins buildings. The Nevermore was still tailing us as it cawed at us from its hight. When we were near the building, our group seemed to split into two.

Weiss, Jaune, Pyrra, and Blake split left while Ren, Ruby, Yang, Nora, and I went right. We then took cover behind the old stone pillars that held the place up. While behind cover I saw that the Nevermore took a position on top of a high tower that overlooked the area.

"Well that's great!" Yang said in annoyance.

I then heard crashing behind us as trees were being broken. Soon the same Death Staker we left behind had followed us. "Aw, man! Run!" Jaune shouted at everyone as our groups broke from cover.

"Nora, distract it!" I heard Ren ordered.

Nora does just that as I watch as she ran out in the open and jumped around the featured projectiles before reaching out and pulling out some kind of grenade launcher. Sending several shells out and hit the Nevermore, making it retreat.

That's when I saw she was unaware of the Grimm coming up from behind her. That's when I along with Ren and Blake took action. Ren and Blake did a crisscross-slash attack on it, forcing to reveal its face to me. Where I held _Buck_ up for a Sergeant Foge special and shotgun blast it in its face, taking out one of its eyes as it screeched in pain and anger. Weiss then lands between the two of us before grabbing hold of us and lifting us away. I was so taken back I nearly lost my shotgun.

When we came down, we came down running onto a stone bridge, just passing Pyrra as she brought out a rifle to cover our retreat as I followed closely behind Jaune and Weiss.

The nine of us raced across the bridge, then the Nevermore came back and smashed into the bridge right in the middle of our group. Getting up from a little stumble, I noticed that we were forced apart as Ruby, me, Yang, Nora, Weiss, and Jaune on one side. While Blake, Pyrra, and Ren on the other facing the Death Staker.

"Shit, Jaune!" I called out the blond, getting his attention. "They need help try and get over there!" I ordered the guy. He nodded his head as he and Nora went to figure out how to do that.

Switching _Buck_ for _Legacy_ , I followed Ruby's example and took a few pop shots at the Nevermore to try and get it to back off us a bit before following the girls up to the top of the columns and stood next to Wiess on her platform. That was when I saw that Blake had somehow got on the giant bird repeatedly slashing on its back before jumping off from great hight only taking a soft landing next Yang. "It's tougher than it looks! " Blake said.

"Then lets hit it with everything we got!" Yang said as she extended her arms as a pair of barrels came out of her gauntlets for battle.

Then all the girls did the same with their weapons. Weiss cylinder in her sword spun like an old revolver would do. Ruby's gun unfolded to its full scythe mode, and Blake's sword handle turned into a handgun. Not wanting to be outperformed by all the ladies, I reloaded _Legacy_ with a fresh mag.

Then we all through a barrage of gunfire and Dust rounds at the big bird. The thing ended up dodging them or tanking through them before it rammed into the pillars of the platforms we were standing on.

"Shit!" I cursed as I lost my footing. As I looked down, I knew I wouldn't survive this fall. Ironically my salvation came in the form of the white she-demon as she dragged me through the air creating white platforms as we went along. We then reached one of the bridges. "Thank you," thanking Weiss. She just gave me a small smile before looking up at the Nevermore.

"None of this is working," Weiss said in irritation to which I nodded in agreement.

"We need something that packs more of a punch than what we're carrying! I'm open to idea's," I said.

"I've got a plan! Ruger, try to get to the cliff and lure the Nevermore there! Weiss come with me!" Ruby ordered.

"Oh great, I'm the bait!" I said sarcastically as I ran down the length of the bridge towards the cliffs. I was going to figure out how I was going to do this, but then I saw it crash into the cliff face. But it didn't stay long as it was starting to rise back up. "Oh no, you don't!" I shouted at the creature. I then withdrew two fragmentation grenades that I snagged from the armories of the _Spirit of Fire_. By the time it was on its feet I was close enough in range to prime them. I then threw them one after the other at the things talons, making it stumble over itself. It was now when Weiss showed up and unleashed a huge ice blast on its tail making it stick to the ground.

Weiss then went over to me made a few, and somehow she's dragged me back to where I was a minute ago. "Oh, we've got to stop meeting like this," I joked at the Weiss. Making the girl 'humph' in annoyance. She then made a snowflake symbol appear right in front of her out of thin air.

"Whoa..." I said in awe.

It was a second later that Ruby came flying on her weapon just as Weiss snowflake turned from white to black holding Ruby in place. That's when I also noticed the humungous makeshift slingshot made out of the Blake's ribbon.

"Of course you would come up with this idea," Weiss said.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm! Can I!" Weiss said confidently.

A second pass before Ruby turned her head to Weiss, "Can you?" She asked again.

"Of course I can!" Weiss snapped.

Ruby then looked forward just as Weiss glyph turned from black to red. Ruby was then released and shot forward at such a speed that the stone beneath us cracked, rose petals appearing from her wake. I watched as she fired shot after shot of her weapon propelling her closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe caught it in the neck with her blade, forcing both of them back to the cliff wall.

I then saw Weiss raze her sword up, it was then a series of glyphs appeared up the cliff wall in front of Ruby. That was when Ruby dashed straight up dragging the Nevermore with it.

"Go. Go. GO! GO RUBY!" I shouted at the young red reaper doing the impossible.

Yang and Blake then showed up with Weiss and me Yang shouting along with me, encouraging Ruby to go further. It was then that Ruby had reached the top, circled up and decapitated the Nevermore head from its shoulders.

I watched in awe as the headless body of the Nevermore fell lifelessly down to the ruins below.

"Whoa..." I said, amazed that just happened.

After witnessing so much in my life, from leaving Earth and seeing in from space to the Covenant invasion of Arcadia. The alien infection that turns commands into enemies too fight in a hollowed out planet. Few things faze me now. But this? Goes up int the top three.

Ruby then made her presence known above the cliff, scythe out by her side with the wind blowing her red cloke flowing in the wind.

"Well... that was a thing!" Yang said.

"Ha! If that was just a thing, then I can't wait till to see what trouble looks likes!" I said with a laugh.

"Well, I for one am done for the day and would like to get back to Beacon to shower off todays events," Weiss said as she walked towards the cliff.

"Yay, I can go for one too," Yang agreed and walked after her. I turned to the last girl with me.

"Might as well follow them to keep them out of any trouble, am I right?" I said to the bow wearing girl. I saw Blake role her eyes at me but held a smile before we walked after the others.

* * *

 **Remnant, Beacon Academy**  
 **September 7, 0922**

* * *

Wow, I haven't felt this excited since starting high school. I thought as I watched team after team being formed. From the way things were being done was interesting. If a pair grabbed a chess piece then whoever got its twin was paired up in a four-person team. If they got a face card then whoever got the other two face cards got turned into a five or six-person team. Then if anyone got a three-man team, they would be put with another pair that doesn't have a matching set making them a five-member team.

So far there was team CRDL that picked up the Black bishop pieces.

Team _PAPO_ collected the white knight pieces.

Team _STEEL_ , a five-person team that collected the heart face house.

Team _CLMATM_ , a six-person team that collected the club face house.

This went on and on, there was a total of fourteen teams with over a hundred students on teams. Some of it didn't make sense until I learned that half of the teams did their initiation in another area.

When Jaune's name and some of the others came up, he became the team leader of four members that was Nora, Ren, and Pyrra, now team JNPR. Soon came our turn.

"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Ruger Tyle. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long." Ozpin listed. Once again as the five of us took the stage and stood side by side in front of the headmaster. "The five of you retrieved the royal house of spades cards. From this day forward you will be known as team **RRWBY**. Led by... Ruby Rose!" He announced.

I was pretty surprised by that. Looking over at Ruby I saw that she to was surprised, right before Yang went up and pulled her into a sisterly embraced.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang said happily.

I laughed at the younger sister predicament. I then caught something in the corner of my eye out in the crowd. That's when I saw them.

Not too far into the audience stood Professor Anders, wearing a civilian red shirt clapping her hands with an out of uniform Captian Cutter next to her. Then I noticed other familiar faces of Lane, Clean, and the rest of Recon Team Echo Some were wearing civilian clothing while some wore random UNSC armor pieces, making them look like some mercenary outfit more than anything. Just from seeing them I nearly lost my cool as those warm feeling that makes you want to make a man cry.

"Thanks guys," I said.

My family may be gone, but now have friends that will help me get through the tough times ahead.

The five of us left the stage together. Ruby and Yang went up to a tall blond guy that had the same hair color as Yang, meaning it was possibly their dad. Weiss and Blake hanged back while I got swarmed by several Marines. They were all congratulating me and the such.

"Guys your the best," I said before stating giving guys bro hugs and the such. Looking over at my four new 'teammate' they were giving looks of amusement and confusion(Wiess)

"So Ruger. Who's all of these guys?" Yang asked as she looked over Echo company. I didn't know the appropriate response when Captain Cutter stepped up next to me. Gaining the girl's attention.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Captain James Cutter, and I lead this group of privet contractors here. We are the United, nations, security, command." He introduced.

"Private contractors?" Ruby and Yang said at the same time.

"Mercenaries," Wiess said in trivial displeasure.

"Contractors, Miss Schnee," Cutter clarified."A lot of us are former military and law enforcement that believed that Atlas and the other leaders of this world are wasting numerous resources on stupid ideas to increase their standing instead of saving the people of the world." He explained gaining the girl's attention, especially Blakes as she looked intently at the UNSC Captain.

"We're small time now, but we're gaining traction. We mostly operate out protecting small settlements out in the mountains south and east of Vale and support companies that actually make an effort to better life for everyone in the world." Cutter then turns to look over at me. "Ruger's parents used to be with us before their unfortunate deaths occurred, and we took him under our protective wings. We've been like a family to the young man and made sure has a good head on his shoulders." He praised before turning to face the girls. "Now he's your problem," He finished.

"I'm not a problem," I said in denial. Making the guys laugh.

"All new students, please go to student services for dorm assignments and student uniforms!" Announce over the PA system.

"Well, guess that's our cue to leave," Cutter said. "You keep in contact you hear Tyler."

"Updates every other weekend, Captain," I replied. He nodded

"Keep your nose clean Mister Tyler. Call us later when you have the time. We have a few things to discuss later, " The Captain finished before him, and the other guy said their goodbyes before leaving.

"Come on girls," I said. "Lets go check out our new living condition.

* * *

 **Wow this came down fast. Thank you all for sticking around and reading my take on the story. I hope you enjoyed it a t least a little and hope you stick around and read more of what is to come later on.**

 **Sergeant Forge Special. Anyone who has played Halo Wars will know that when Sgt. Forge is out on foot and not in his Hog carries a shotgun. his special is Loading a shotgun shell into an enemy unit.**

 **Another thing, I'm probably going to get a lot of questions about the Spirit of Fire crew turning into PMC's. There will be reveals in that in later chapters on what is going on about that and why Captain Cutter is doing such a thing. As the old saying goes, "There is a Method to the Madness."**

 **Also over 1750 views in less then two weeks O_O whoa... thank you all for reading and there will be more down the line. See you then!**

 **Updated 3/9/19**

 **I cleaned it up a little bit with the chapter to look for any errors and got some, don't know if I got them all. Also I change up the name of PC ails that the UNSC forces that are on Remnant. Instead of United Nations Space Command it would be security command. That way Cutter and them wont have to blank out all the UNSC gear.**

 **Reviews! :)**

 **To VGBlackwing - I would really like to see that match. But as much as I love UNSC tech I'm going to have to give the edge to Atlas. Reason being, as much the Mantis has in advance technology and shields. They aren't that strong and nor is the Mantis fast enough to out maneuver the Paladin in terms of speed raw power. One Paladin demonstrated this on Yang in Vol 2 by punching her through a sold concrete highway support pillar. If one shot like that against a Mantis the that mech is toast. Plus despite its lack of weaponry each weapon is capable of producing creators So edge Paladin. Sorry.**

 **Evinco - I agree, In the world of Halo and RWBY there are plenty of BSing when involving power scaling.**


	7. Weight of Leadership

**Halowars belongs with 343 and RWBY with roosterteeth**

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **RRWBY Dorm Room**

 **September 8th 0922**

* * *

"That is one way to wake up in the morning," I said walking into me and the girl's new dorm room. I had just gotten done doing an early morning work out and was coming back to the dorm room for a shower and a change in clothes.

Right now I had just walked in right when Ruby blew a whistle into Weiss's ear while she was in the middle of getting up. Weiss was now on the ground in her nightgown while Ruby, Yang, and Blake stood by already in their school uniforms. Ruby still wore her red cape over her school uniform, Blake her black bow and Yang was carrying a bunch of stuff in her hands.

"Ok, what I'd miss?" I said catching the girls attention.

"Ruger! Where'd you go? You weren't in your bed when we got up this morning." Ruby said in a bombardment of questions.

"Woke up early for a morning workout and got a quick breakfast from the cafeteria," I answered."Now, what's going on?" I asked again.

"That's what I would like to know too!" Weiss snapped as she picked herself off the floor.

"Well since you are here and Weiss is awake! We can begin our first order of business!" Ruby explained.

"Which would be?" I asked which Yang answered next.

"Decorating!" She said holding up the random junk in her arms.

"What?!" Weiss said in shocked anger.

"Really?" I deadpanned.

"We still have to unpack," Blake said, lifting a black suitcase, which opened spilling all the contents out. "Annnnd clean," she added.

Weiss didn't look very eager to do this, especially when she got blown in the face by a whistle.

"Alright! Weiss, Ruger, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission!" She announced, raising her fist in the air. " **Banzai!** " She cheered. Yang and Blake then appeared by our leader's side yelling out the same thing.

" **Banzai!** " They cheered with Ruby and turning at an angle. That made me raise an eyebrow at this.

 _I did not know Japanese existed here in this world as well_ , I thought. "Ok, while you girls get started on that I'm going to take a shower. I stink and don't want to go to classes today sweaty and stinking." I said as I grabbed the folded set of school clothes I had out on the bed and without another word I entered the team's private bathroom.

It was a nice size bathroom too. When the school professors put the teams in their rooms, the school had rooms made just for the different sized groups. Some were made for four-member teams while the others got rooms for six-member teams. For our bathroom was made for six people in mind, we got a double sink for our big party. A single ceramic toilet for all of us to share along with a enclosed bathtub shower hybrid and one stand alone shower.

Stripping out of work out clothes consisting of a sweatshirt and pants and some sneakers I got while I was in Vale, lifting my sweater off while also pulling off my undershirt revealed something I didn't want the girls to see.

My improvised landing back in the Emerald forest didn't leave me without its marks. There were several criss-cross patterns of dark blue and purple bruises from my impact with the tree that slowed my approach. Turning around showing my back revealed an even larger bruise that was blue from the edge of my left shoulder down over my ribs and lower hindquarters. With discoloration of purple and red around the edges. I was lucky that I didn't land directly on my spine. Then I might have been paralyzed for life or died in the stream.

After stripping my bottoms I walked over to my hygiene kit, I reached in and pulled out a bar of soap then entered the shower. Turing on the warm water hitting my injuries hurt for a sec but was quick and soothing against my skin as the pelting of water lightly massage my muscles. I was lucky after my fall and during the fight against the Grimm. After all the adrenalin that kept me going had left, I nearly collapsed right at the top of the cliff when we got back to Beacon, but kept pace with everyone. As I lathered myself up with soap, my thoughts went to my new teammates and what knowledge we shared about each other.

Ruby Rose. The youngest of our team while also the team leader of our little group. She and her sister Yang came from an island called Patch that's right off the coast of Vale where their dad lives. Hyperactive, with a capital H. Immature due to her age but so were we all. It's possible that her plan to kill the Nevermore is what got her the position of the leader with the Professors watching us. Plus she is insanely fast! I bet she could outrun a Pelican in a fair race if giving a chance. Plus she also carries around a collapsible scythe sniper rifle hybrid called ' _Crescent Rose_ ' that she made herself! That is an accomplished right there in my book. But making weapons and leading are two different things, but I'll give her a chance. I'm not much of a leader either in my honest opinion, more like a Scout than anything else. Her favorite food is also strawberries and loves cookies.

Then there is Ruby's partner, Weiss Schnee. A " _Heiress_ " of sorts from a higher up/Noble family from Atlas that runs one of the world's leading producers of Dust. She's a piece of work with that mouth of hers. Practically screams upper upbringing and sheltered life. But despite some of her faults, she does at least care about others. Otherwise, I'd be dead at the bottom of that gorge when that Nevermore took out the supports under our platform. There is also her semblance and her weapon, an ability to do some pretty incredible like generate mobile platforms in mid-air and accelerating one's speed, both of which I had the distinct pleasure of experiencing myself. Her weapon, _Myrtenaster_ as Weiss calls it, a multi-action Dust rapier with a system similar to that of an old world revolver. From what little time I saw It seems she uses a lot of Dust to use in her weapon, that might hurt her in a drawn-out fight. But first, we'll have to see for how long is a drawn-out fight for her.

Turning off the shower I exited and began drying myself off with one of the towels.

Now Yang Xiao Long, older sister of Ruby and is probably the scariest girl on the team and ranked number three on my list of all time. At first glance just screams thrill seeker! Free-spirited and always looking for a new thing to try out. Cares about her sister deeply and likes her hair very much, from the number of hair products I saw marked 'Yang' here in the bathroom. She didn't say much about her semblance other than "Don't worry I can take a hit." Her weapons of choice are the pair shotgun gauntlets she calls _Ember Celica_ I saw the other day that also doubles as a brass knuckles. Great for taking down people at close range. The only thing I can think that can bring people down faster are her puns, there a ' _killer._ '

Dropping the towel in the laundry hamper, I began dressing in my new uniform. Ha, if someone would have told me I was going to be going to a private school where I was going to be trained to fight monsters, then I would have called you crazy. If you told me I was going to another planet to attend a private school to be trained to fight monsters while being roomed with four chicks my age? Then I would have said you're quoting summary of a story and fooling me. Putting up my new top I thought about the last member of the team.

Blake Belladonna. There's not much I could say about her due to how little the girl talks. Blake said she lived outside the kingdoms, other than that, nothing. A real shut that likes books, from the box filled with them that I saw her stuff under her bed. But overall with her attitude and the way she dresses reminds me of a ninja, with her semblance and weapon of choice only enforced my image of her. An ability to make clones of herself to take hist for her and a thing that in Ruby's technical words a 'Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe,' _Gambol Shroud_ as it's called. A katana sword with a pistol in the hilt, a sheath that can double as a clever and an elastic ribbon that when used correctly could be very helpful in some situations.

"Like firing your team leader at Nevermore's," I mumbled as I put on my red hangman's noose they call a tie. With that done, I grabbed my dirty clothes and put them in my laundry bag and left the bathroom.

Only to see the girls in front of a pile of oddly stacked beds.

The room's walls had covered in rock band posters, pieces of art, shelves full of books and other nick nacks. Everything looked good except for the pile beds in the center of it.

"I feel like there is a joke to be made here, but I'm blanking on it," I said standing next to my teammates.

"This isn't going to work," Weiss said.

"We're going to have to put this on hold for now," I said.

"But why? We almost finished!" Ruby said, throwing her arms in the direction of the bed pile.

"It's 8:41 right now Ruby, classes start at 9," I informed her making the team go wide at how much time has passed. "Don't want to be late on the first day right," I said as I grabbed my bookbag from my little pile of stuff.

Compared to the girls, I looked like I had only the shirt off my back, which wasn't too far from the truth. I had the clothes I wore out of Arcadia, my favorite jacket, the bugout bag, then there were the three sets of body armor. They all were stored in two duffle bags under my bed, along with my fathers spare tactical vest that I wore with out of Arcadia, the Marian body armor I wore back in Echo company, it also got blanked out all UNSC marking, and painted to match my current one, and my new armor set. Right next to several ammo cans filled with the different kinds of ammunition I have for my guns that I've got stored in the school's students armory.

There was also the last family picture of my parents and my mom's tags and ring. Which both I'd pocked out of habit.

"He's right, sis," Yang said. "Don't want to be late on the first day!"

"What classes do we have first?" Blake asked.

Ruby then flashed over to the bookcase and back with an open book in her hand. "We have a few classes together in the morning. The first being Mr. Port's class with Grimm studies from 9 to 10, followed by Professor Peach with Dust manipulation at 10:15 to 11:15 then we have lunch," Ruby told everyone.

"Well let's get moving! I don't want to be late on my first day!" Weiss said before grabbing her book bag, the others doing the same.

"This will be an interesting first day," I said before leaving the dorm with the team.

* * *

"That was an interesting first day," I said tiredly while Yang, Blake and I walked in our dorm before flopping on my bed. The only one that hadn't ended up in the center of the room. It was nice of them to leave my stuff alone when they were decorating the area.

"They weren't that bad," Yang said as she and Blake fixed up their beds. During lunch, the idea of bunk beds was proposed to everyone and was quickly agreed too, but now their team had a new problem.

"The classes weren't no, the teachers?" I said with a small shudder. "This school's nuts." This made Yang look off to the side.

"Ok, I'll give you that. But haven't you've had teachers in the past that were a little off?" She asked. Thinking back, teachers I had growing up were all boring people or 'Dumb' A.I's that had no personalities. The military leaders on the _Spirit of Fire_ were so much better at teaching, so I thought about them. Captain Cutter flew the ship around an exploding star, inside a planet that was falling apart. Then there's Col. Morgan whom I'm told has a fetish for fire, from having witnessed her battle group setting half the hull ablaze when the infection tried getting on the ship. Sgt. Forge liked heavy armor tanks and loved making things explode everywhere he went.

"Point," I merely said.

"So...does anyone knows what's the deal with Ice Queen today?" Yang asked.

"No," Blake replied in her usual dry tone.

"She's got an attitude problem that needs addressing, I for one don't want to be stuck in a room with her if this how she acts to all of us," I said firmly.

"Will deal with her later, right now let's be grateful we made it the first half of our classes," Blake said.

"True that," Yang agreed.

That was a thing at Beacon, the classes here were split between days. Mondays and Wednesdays were like academic days. History, science, foreign cultural, etc. Tuesday and Thursdays were practical classes, such as combat studies, aura manipulation, first aid and survival class. Leaving the individual student option classes or team missions for Fridays. The only course I'm worried about was the combat class headed by the school's number two, Glynda Goodwitch, tied for number one on the scariest women I've ever met. Indeed, she could be best friends Col. Kinsano if the two ever meet.

 _I pray that never happens. I don't think Beacon or the world could handle it._

"What are you girls doing for Fridays?" I asked.

"I'm taking an extra shop class, wouldn't want my baby bumblebee to be left out of my life," replied Yang.

"Bumblebee?" Blake asked, gaining my attention as well.

"She's a sports bike that my dad got for my sixteen birthday. I took extra classes while at Signal to learn how to maintain my baby," Yang explained.

"Nice," I said. I wonder if I could ask the Professor to see if she could get a Warthog for the team and me, or at least a mongoose for my birthday. It was coming up. "What about you Blake?" I asked our team's ninja.

"Nothing had piqued my interest, so I'm taking anything instead I'm going to use it as a study day," Blake answered.

"What about you, Ruger?" Yang asked.

"Shop as well," I answered. "I always like working with my hand and tools, so I'm going to see what the workshops they have here are like." This was true. Things like woodworking and metalworking had always fascinated me in the past. In my freshman year, I took my schools shop class and loved the different ways of woodworking. After everything I've been through a little thing like this could bring a bit of normality in life. "May even do a mission some days."

That was also a thing for Fridays. Students can do team missions or individual missions in and around Vale to promote positive interaction of Huntsman and Huntresses to the people. First years are only allowed to do tasks in Vale, things like picking up trash, helping out at shelters and assisting emergency responders. Firsts also weren't allowed to do any search or destroy missions till their second year. A positive thing about the missions is that the more you do, the better the overall grade you get at school. A bonus for this is that the city pays the student permission that gets completed. _Good thing I asked Serina to help me set up an account to store all my money before coming here_. I thought.

Before anyone could talk next, Ruby opened the door with a stack of books in her hands.

"Doing a little ' _light_ ' reading, sis?" Yang asked her sister as we watched her dropping her stack on a desk.

"Um, yes. ah, I... wanted to get an early start on some early studying!" Ruby replied sounding nervous.

Her tone of voice had piqued my interest as she was doing a bad job at lying, with that I walked over and grabbed the first two book on top of her stack while she was looking away and read aloud the first cover.

"' _The 'Unofficial' guide of leadership_ ' by Speedbor Ozma?" Looking over to the second one. "' _Art of War_ ' by Toe Ku Mama?" I raised an eyebrow at that. Ruby looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here right now as three sets of eyes were on her. "Is there something you want to tell us, Ruby?"

"I..I just don't want to be a disappointment," Ruby admitted. "I'm not used to being in charge, and I want to be sure I'm doing things right. I realize that everyone is going to be looking at me when they see the team and don't want to embarrass you all for MY decisions. Like what if I make a mistake?!" She said.

"Oh Ruby," Yang said as she got off her bed and drew Ruby in a hug. "This what we're here for, you don't have to worry about embarrassing us. We only just got here, and we are here much to learn to be better. You don't have to have to change who you are; you're still growing. We've got the time." Blake was then by the sister's side.

"She's right, Ruby. We here now. We're here to learn " Blake said. "While also learning together. Don't change yourself just after one day, and no one can do that. Like you told me back in the 're here to make the world a better place." The girls then looked over at me. I suddenly felt put on the spot.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you going to add to this or what?" Yang said. I shrugged my shoulders put the books back on the pile.

"Can I borrow those when you're finished?" I asked which got an eye roll out of Blake, a small giggle out of Ruby, and a raised eyebrow out of Yang. Seeing the signal of the older sister I got to the real point. "Look Ruby, you have only been in this position of leadership for a short time. It was your plan that got us through killing that Nevermore at the ruins. Was it unorthodox and unusual? Yes! But many great leaders are remembered for their unconventional tactics throughout history. There are no great leaders that are recognized for following the book." I explained as I lifted the Art of War. "These books tell us how others do it. People of the past gives us tools for the present, it's us that shape the future." I put the book back and look at the three girls all looking at me with wide eyes.

"Maybe Ozpin should have made you the leader," Ruby said but then back peddle at my response.

"Oh hell no!"

"What?" Ruby said. Looking very taken back.

"Ruby, I'd make a terrible leader," I said firmly.

"But-but what you just said?!" Ruby stammered.

"Ruby, I work best either by myself as a scout or when someone is giving the orders in the team. I'd hesitate and miss-matched my words, and don't even start on my fighting style." I said.

"What about your fighting style?" Blake asked, looking interested at what I had to say.

"I'm primarily a range fighter! I keep my foes at a distance and not engage them up close like all of you if I can help it," I explained.

"So am I, _Crescent Rose_ is a sniper rifle," Ruby said.

"You use the recoil of your shots for a better swing while it is in scythe mode. My weapons... don't have that," I admitted. " _Whisper_ and _Legacy_ are great for silent takedowns and at short and distance shooting while _Buck_ I'm... a little hesitant of using against other people."

"Why?" Yang asked.

"Yang, what gage of shells does _Ember Celica_ use?" I asked the blond kickboxer.

"She uses specialized dust loaded 20-gauge shells. I would have put the 16 in her but then I wouldn't be able to fire as many rounds that I wanted." Yang said, and to my slight surprise.

 _She uses 20's?!_ I thought. I then walked over to my bed and pull out the ammo can that held Bucks live ammo. Opening up to see two different color ammo boxes, red and blue. Red was the regular ammo the M45 frequently uses while the blue held police issue beanbag rounds. I took out one of the red boxes and pulled one of the shells and tossed it over to Yang. Making all the girls go wide-eyed.

"What is this?!" Ruby asked in awe.

"That my dear leader is an 8-gauge shell, Buck houses six of those in him," I answered.

" **8-gauge!** " The three girls present yelled together. "Since when do they make these?! I've been a member of several weapons magazines subscriptions for years, and I've never seen or heard of any Dust or weapons manufacturer that makes such a beautiful thing!" Ruby cried out as she took the shell from yang and examined it. _Crap_.

 _How did we get from talking about Ruby's self-problems of leadership to talking about my guns ammunition again? What should I say? More importantly, should I say anything or try changing the subject?_ I thought.

"It's not Dust loaded, its gunpowder and I think we are getting a little too far off topic. The point Ruby is that as a leader you are going to make mistakes and when you do we'll be there to help yea the best we can." I said to the red cloak girl. I saw her smile before going and hugging me.

"Thanks for the pep talk," she said. I gave her a small smile and gave a one arm hung.

"No problems you little red terror," I replied. She then broke the hug and grabbed the shell from her. "Well, I'm tired and going to turn in early and get some rest. Something tells me combat class is not going to be fun and I'd rather not be tired during it."

Without another word to the girls, I took a spare set of clean shirt and shorts and walked into the bathroom to change, noting the narrowed eyes that eyed me before I entered and ignored it. Because I was the only guy on a team full of girls, I needed my own place to change. After swapping into my sleeper set, I saw the others finishing up their ' _makeshift'_ bunk beds.

One held up by the other on a set of books on its four-bed posts while the other was held up by an elaborate system of ropes. ' _I was in the bathroom for two minutes and they do this!?_ ' My mind screamed.

Shaking my head at the two hazards that were my teammate's beds, I walked over to mine and tried to get as much sleep as I can. Trying everything to not think about the impossible rules that seem to be broken on a daily basis.

* * *

Opening my eyes, I awoke to the sound of our dorm room door opening, and I spot Weiss walking in, still wearing her combat attire with her weapon strapped to her side. She also looked like she just did a lot of thinking, her eyes looked both distant and contempt if that was possible. I watched her walk past me without giving me a look and went up to Ruby's hanging bunk and lifted the blanket that Ruby set up for privacy. I watched as Weiss's expression change to that surprise that also increased my interested.

I then hear Weiss clear her throat before reaching out over Ruby's bed, possibly Ruby herself. "Ruby?" Weiss said, succeeding in waking our team leader.

"Wha-Weiss!" I hear Ruby say in surprise. "I-I was studying, and then I fell asleep! I'm sorry..." Ruby started sputtering before I see Weiss stick her and out, silencing her as she put a finger to her mouth. A moment later Weiss spoke, it was a whisper, but I could still hear it carry.

"How do you take your coffee?" Weiss asked as she removed her hand.

"I...I don't..." Ruby stammered.

"Just answer the question," Weiss snapped.

"Ah, cream and five sugars!" Ruby quickly answers.

"Don't move," Weiss ordered before she walked over to the little coffee maker with a coffee mug the girls got over in the corner. A minute later she fills a cup and returns to Ruby's bunk, handing the mug to the Ruby.

"Um...thanks Weiss," Ruby said, sounding surprised. I was too. For all day Weiss had been acting like a spoiled child. 'Wonder what change?' I thought as I kept watching.

"Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have! Good luck studying." Weiss said before walking away only stepping back and pointing at a direction on the bed. "That's wrong by the way." She then walked over to the dorm rooms door, only stopping and turn back. "Hey, Ruby?" she said once more.

"Uh-huh," Ruby asked.

"I've always wanted bunk beds when I was a kid," Weiss said before exiting the dorm.

I couldn't help but smile at what I witnessed. I was glad that whatever problems those two had have been put to rest. Only to start off a brand new friendship. This was the stuff you find in children's stories in mystical lands or cartoons.

 _Then again, I am on a planet where anyone could be a hero if they tried._ I thought before heading back to sleep.

* * *

 **And another chapter in the story. Also 2,500 views is just plane awesome! I'm loving it!**

 **I know Ruger kinda seams to be the protagonist in this story and I'm trying and failing that so sorry(not sorry) about that.**

 **Starting next chapter is when things start to get a little complicated for Ruger's disposition at Beacon and is shown how things are going o be harder for Ruger the longer he stays at school. Will he receive help from his fellow teammate and will they find out about his lack of Aura? Tune in next time!**

 **Review responses!**

 **Bowserjrrules - Yea I know some people don't like time skips. But if I didn't do them then I'd still be writing about the shield world and there is too much stuff in that it will take me forever to finish before the Spirit would make it to Remnant.**

 **Guest - I will say no spoilers. And that's fine if you don't agree with my assessment Of the mantis vs Paladin fight. On a one on One match I thing the Paladin would win. in a big battle with multiple mechs involved on both sides. Who knows?**

 **ptl - We will get to see more of what the Captain will do with the forces of the Spirit of Fire at a later date. Red team and them will be mentioned later on as well.**

 **Blazblade - First off, Omega Team will not be making a showing. That was strictly a team used in multiplier in HW2, not story that I'm using. But other units and people like Col. Kinsano and her Hellbringers will make a more noticeable appearance.**

 **GreenTheRyno - I'm trying my best to put in my own things and add original idea's to be put in while also not interfering much in the early parts in of the Cannon. For those are more important for what goes on later.**

 **VGBlackwing - Yep. couldn't agree with you more. Blake had a pretty narrow view of the world because she hadn't been shown the world from both sides of the world. There's always two sides. It's only when or and if one sees it. When the UNSC fully shows itself everyone will be surprised.**


	8. Fight class Revalations

**Halo belongs to 343 and RWBY belongs with Roosterteeth**

 **Not responsible or own for anything**

* * *

 **Remnant** **, Beacon Academy**  
 **Sparing Classroom 2**  
 **September 10, 0922**

* * *

"Ok, that had to hurt!" I said while cringing as we watch Nora Valkyrie use her hammer to send her opponent into the wall, leading to a ring-out. A guy's name was Teal Dover from team STEEL. The match was mostly one-sided due to the guy's weapon of choice against the ginger, a gray spiked gauntlet with a magazine fed gun attachment to the side. Teal was a pretty big dude, but that was the only thing he had over her as she seems to just pounds away at the guy with her reach. He had an edge at first with how well he did up close but didn't follow through with the attack giving Nora the win in the end.

"The win of this match goes to Nora Valkyrie of team JNPR!" Glynda announced. Making the audience clap. "As you can see class, Mr. Dover has been thrown out of the ring. In a tournament style duel, you would be eliminated." She addressed the class before turning to Nora."Job well done Miss. Valkyrie. But remember that charging in straight at your opponent will not always grant you victory. This is the same to you too Mr. Dover." She said as she turned to the male student. "You underestimated your opponent, and she gained the upper hand in the fight. Fighting head first at your opponent will not always grant you the victor, for you may fight someone stronger. Thank you both, and now you can rejoin your teams." The two then shook hands and left for the locker rooms to change back to the school attire.

As they left, I couldn't help but be in awe at what I've been witnessing this last hour. Aura and semblance in action.

Sure there was back in the Emerald Forest and saw some of my teammates in action, but not from a spectators standpoint. The things I was witnessing was surprising in some regards and disappointing in others. But then this is only the first week of school and the first time there doing sparing matches. The last combat class we had was just about the ring set up, and the such is all. Things like what we are allowed and aren't allowed to do, where the medkit is at and all that business. Now we're doing the actual sparing, and I have been watching how Aura works first hand.

"Nora did a good job for her first fight don't ya think?" Yang said breaking me from my thoughts.

"She did seem...enthusiastic?" Blake said, sounding like she was trying to find the right words to say. I don't blame her with Nora giving off a creepy smile the whole time.

"That's one way to put it," I said. "Wonder who would be going next?"

That said who would be unlucky enough to go next. It was all randomized in the class. Today we would be doing singles, one on one style fights. The system had everyone on a randomized order to keep students on their toe's and pay's attention for no one knew who will be up next. Now it was still cycling through the students.

"I wouldn't mind going for another round," Yang said. I shook my head at that. We'd all watched Yang beat the snot out of the girl from team CLMATM that carried a poleax and teardrop shield.

"I doubt it," Weiss said joining in on the conversation. "It's randomized but more then likely it won't choose the same people again in the same class period." She explained. I watch Yang roll her eyes at that.

"Way to kill the mood, Ice Queen."

"Hey!" Weiss snapped at the brawler.

It was then the randomizer had finish selecting, and we all faced the new contenders. I wish I didn't.

"Would Ruger Tyler of team RRWBY and Bro Lisdmand of team SUBLN please go retrieve your combat uniform and weapons and report to the arena!" Glynda said.

I knew this would happen to me eventually, but the feeling of impending doom by getting my ass kicked in front of everyone still crept up.

"Ah, crap," I said dejectedly.

"Go get him, Ruger!" Ruby cheered. Ruby's cheer did little to help how I was feeling but was thankful.

"Well, it was bound to be my turn eventually," I said before getting up from my seat.

"Hey don't be like that! You told us you were better at fighting at a distance right? Well, now you get to see how well you do in good old fashion CQC!" Yang said in an attempt to encourage me. That didn't help, but it did bring up a few points. It's what this class was about, to fight better than what we were before. It was said the best way to train is to fight like you mean it, well I'm about to do just that.

Leaving the class, I head straight for the team's dorm room. Another one of the smart desitions I found when they were building this place is that they put the Fighting classes, student armory, and student Dorms all next to each other. Walking in my door, I quickly grabbed the duffle with my combat armor in. But before I left, I stopped and looked at my other duffle and opened it, revealing my Marine body armor and dad's police vest. Reaching down, I pull out the bulky forearm guards of the Marien body armor.

Unlike my old armor, the ODST/CQC it didn't have vary thick forearm guards for both arms, my old armor did. While it did have a wrist mountain TAC for field operations, I didn't get fully trained on how to use it and was not needed in this situation.

Leaving the teams dorm and entering the student armory I made good time in finding and retrieving _Whisper_ , _Legacy_ , and _Buck_. It was then I quickly put on my armor while also placing my weapons in their respected positions with _Whisper_ on my left thigh holster and _Legacy_ on my right. I also pulled out my new training munition, concussive rounds.

It was a rush order given by Anders when we read up about the school curriculum on fights. We didn't know what our usual ammo would do to people with aura just yet so they got me these things. Instead of the usual armor piercing rounds that were made for taking out the energy shields of Covenant Elites, was replaced with a solid rubber bullet. I won't kill anyone with these, but they won't feel great either.

"let's go see what the fuss is all about," I said to myself before grabbing _Buck_ and filling him with Police issued beanbag shells. With _Buck_ filled I placed him on my back, grabbed my helmet and walked out back to where all my classmates were at.

As soon as I walked in everyone eyes were instantly on me. I saw many of them down with curious eyes at my armor. That was another thing. Out of all the fights, I'd witness. Not that many of them had any form of actual armor on their person. They will have like knee and forearm protection, but that was it! Hardly anyone here owned any decent body armor, and what few people that did didn't look like it would protect them from much of anything.

"What is he wearing?"

"How many weapons does a guy need?"

"I don't know, but I like that shotgun!"

"He doesn't look so tough. Bet I could take him out in just one swing."

"He's going to be slow in that armor."

That's the peanut gallery for yea. Already the other students were judging me before the fight even started. Entering the arena, I search for my opponent and saw him enter the ring from the other side.

That was a tall guy. Around 6.3 if I had to guess. His blue eyes and beach skin seemed to shine like he washed twice a day or something, his dirty blond hair looked like it too. He had on a set of brown combat boots that his black combat pants covered. He also wore a black sleeveless vest with a white undershirt. His weapons if I could identify them looked to be two blocky nightsticks that police used to use. The one end had a barrel sticking out of the end near the handle was where I could spot a trigger at and a sharp poker on the other end.

Those would hurt if he got close to me. Plus I don't know how good he is with shooting those so best to play it safe and end this quick. I thought as Bro, and I stood apart from each other in the arena.

"You two know the rules, first one aura hit the red will forfeit the match," Glynda explained. "Mister Lisdmand are you ready?" She said as she turned to Bro

Bro looked smug as he drew both of his nightsticks and twirled them around in a show bo fashion before setting in some combat stance. Glenda then turned to me.

"Mr. Tyler, are you ready?" She asked.

I then smartly hatted my helmet, polarized my VISR to hind my face and drew _Whisper_ from her place.

" **Begin!** " Glynda started.

Without wasting a moment, I sent a trio of rounds at my opponent. Bro seemed to anticipate my move as he twirled his nightstick at a breakneck speed, surprising me as he blocked all three of my shots. That all it took for him to take advantage as he rushed towards me before he swung his stick at me in a flurry of strikes. I raised my arms and felt multiple sharp blows against my Marien guards. The layers of ballistic recoil-absorbing gel in them did its job at preventing any damage, but it took a bit of strength to keep them up to avoid getting hit in the head. And with each strike caused me to take a half a step back.

Needing to turn this around, I rushed forward right in the middle of one of his swing. Missing his nightstick and connecting my shoulder guard to his arm. Catching him off guard in his swing, I pushed _Whisper_ out and began firing multiple rounds into Bro's ribs at point blank range. The shots caused him to dub over slightly from either pain or surprise, I didn't know so I again took advantage of this and threw a right hook into the guy's jaw followed by a pistol whip to the guys face.

That was my first actual strike against aura in general. It felt like I was punching a wooden board when my hand connected with his head. With that, I backpedal for some distance between us and reloaded _Whisper_ before pointing her at my still standing opponent.

Taking a glance back at the aura bored. I saw that Bro aura was in the yellow slowly going to the red. Turning back to Bro I saw looking at me with an angry expression.

"Your so going down for that cheep trick!" He said before he readied another charge.

This needs to end. I thought quickly. Not knowing what Bro had in store for me. I holstered _Whisper_ I drew _Buck_ off my back. "Then get over here," I replied back.

Not a moment later timed seemed to slow to a stop we charged at each other while we fired away at each other. Bro's shots were terrible went wide around me as we drew close, but Bucks shot true and connected against Bro's belly throwing his aim off more. When my third shot from _Buck_ hit Bro's hand, nocking away the nightstick from his grip.

Seeing an opening to end this fight I rushed left to Bro's right side. Flipping Buck to where I held it by the barrel and swung downwards at the back of Bro's leg forcing him down on one leg. I then went for the prosses of a second swing to take his head. But in what looked like a last ditched effort to get back at me. Bro lunged at me from where he knelt with his other nightstick, point first.

 _Oh crap!_ I panicked. I was already committed to the attack. Bro's pointed nightstick glanced off my armor and dug into my body suit right as Buck's buttstock smashed into Bro's head. I then saw what must be his aura shattering in navy blue light around him before falling on his back.

"Match set!" Glynda called over us. "As everyone can see, Mr. Lisdmand's Aura has been broken thus ending the match. Mr. Tyler had won the match!" It was then the students in the bleachers started cheering and clapping.

"WAY TO GO RUGER!" Ruby cheered out loud over everyone.

"Settle down class!" Glynda said over the students making them all fall silent. "Now then. What did anyone notice about this match?" She asked the audience.

"Bro shots were all over the place when he used the gun mode." I heard one student called out. Glynda nodded to this.

"That is one, yes. Mr. Lisdmand would do well to train more on his range fighting as it seems Mr. Tyler has much more experience with. What else, class?"

"Ruger used his thick, blocky armor to its full intent," I head another said.

"A good observation, Miss. Índigo. Unlike many Huntsman and Huntresses that forgo armor. Using such will grant the user a better chance of survival in combat if used properly. Good observations everyone but there is one I would like to ask you, Mr. Tyler. Why didn't you activate or use your aura during this fight?" Glynda asked making the students gasp in shock all around the classroom as the peanut gallery started up again.

"What?!"

"He fought without using his aura? That's crazy!"

"This guy has a pair."

"He did all that without aura?!"

"THAT'S! SO! COOL!"

"Ah, crap," I muttered under my breath. My secret was on the verge of breaking out. I'd got to watch what I say here or my time here is up. "How'd you know my aura was off?" I asked the professor.

"Two things I noticed, Mr. Tyler. One, I didn't see any aura blocking any of the strikes that Mr. Lisdmand landed on you. I first thought that it was your armor taking all the hits for you until I saw the last one connect very close to your body, showing me you didn't activate your aura." Glynda listed and explained to the class. "Two. Your aura didn't show up on the board when I started the match showing your activated aura." She points to the screen behind her that displayed both me and Bro's aura's but only showed Bro's broken aura gage while mine remained blank.

"Double crap," I muttered again. I forgot about that thing completely. Whelp I'm already knee deep in crap so might as well pull the 'cool' card and see what happens. "Well, Professor I like to test myself," I said confidently. Getting a raised eyebrow out Glynda.

"Explain yourself, Mr. Tyler."

"Professor, someday out there may become a time when we may have to fight without an aura to use. I like to fight without it when I can get a chance. I prefer learning how to fight without it so I won't have to rely on so much before getting stuck in a bad situation," I cooly explained. That wasn't entirely crap. From what I just went through I think I could survive without it for a time. More experienced Marines and ODST's would do way better then I and could beat any of the other students if it called for CQC like I just did. And there was no competition against the Spartans. Glynda seemed to accept my answer somehow making me internally sigh in relief.

"You bring up some excellent points Mr. Tyler. Take note class, that there may come a day when your aura will run out and will have to fight without it. I pray that never happens to any of you, but it is a real thing that Huntsman face with everytime one goes on a mission. See you performed well against an opponent with aura without activating your own shows you are preparing yourself ahead much earlier then your peers are. But from now on you will activate your aura when in my ring, not only is it required its also a safety requirement to avoid unnecessary injury, understand." Glynda said with eye's that seemed to pierce right through my polarised VISR.

"Yes, mam!" I hastily said.

"Good, now you may exit the arena. Good job both of you," Glynda said before she went back to the handheld tablet she had with her.

I then heard footsteps over to my left and saw Bro walking up to me. Then to my surprise, his hand lifted up for a handshake. "That was pretty ballsy, fighting with aura. I respect that, can't wait till I'd see you do with it on." He said.

Not wanting to look at someone who showing respect to others. I grabbed Bro's hand with mine and shook it. Making the audience clap at the scene.

"I had fun. Let us fight again sometime," I replied before breaking the handshake and exited the ring.

That's when the pain appeared again in force making me stumble and grab a nearby wall. My back flared where my oversized bruise was making me lean to the side which made it worse due to the new injury my implant was telling me. The stab wound from Bro's nightsticks sharpened end. Apparently, it was sharp enough to pierce my bodysuits flexible kevlar material. I'll have to notify the Spirit about getting more suits for me if this is going to happen often.

I then entered the armory without further incident and found my weapons locker. I quickly placed my weapons in their places before I grabbed my medkit from within. Putting it next to me I winced in pain as I began the prosses of stripping off my armor. It was a bit painful at first, but I powered through it, having to see how bad the damage I was feeling. When I removed the body suit, I got a good look at what I was dealing with, a one-inch stab right below the ribs. It hurt a lot. My implant told me that it wasn't deep but still cut into the muscle. Leaning back a bit I pulled out a med-patch and bandage. I placed the patch over the wound before began rapping it around my midsection.

"Hey, Ruger congaaAATOHMYGODS!" I heard someone shouting behind me.

Turning around I saw my team looking at me with eyes filled with shock and worry as they looked at me. I realized it was Yang that was greeting me till she shouted at what she saw. They all had a good view of the big bruise from initiation, not so bad as it was then as it slowly healed up but still hurt.

"Ruger what happened! I don't remember you getting hit in the back hard enough to give you that?" Ruby said as she was by my side examining my back.

"That because it looks older you idiot. Look, see how it's yellowing along the edges. That several days old," Weiss said as she got a closer look at my body. Now I was starting to feel a little embarrassed with how close all the girls were getting. I opened my mouth to try and answer, but Blake beat me to it.

"That's from initiation, isn't it? From your mishap in landing back in the Emerald Forest."

"But that was days ago, Blake his aura would heald that within a few hours. Why aren't you using your aura, Ruger?" Weiss pushed.

All four girls leaned into my personal space all wanting to know an answer. I could probably deal with one of them putting me on the spot, but three questioning glares plus Ruby's innocent pleading look was hitting me hard.

"Well... I would if I knew how..." I admitted. It was bound for one of my secrets to be revealed.

"WHAT?!" My four teammates screamed in shock.

"Well that was expected," I said as I rubbed my ringing ear.

"HOW!?" Weiss said, still in shock. "Do you have a death wish or something?! You could have been killed!"

"I have to agree with Weiss here. What you doing here is just reckless," Yang said stern face. Right before it broke out into a grin. "I approve."

"What?! Yang, how can you say that?" Weiss asked the brawler.

"Cause if anyone can go through what we been through initiation, stand with us through it and beat a guy with aura in a fair fight without using any aura at all then he has earned his place here in my book," Yang said with a carefree smile before it went serious. "But I have to ask Ruger. Why did you come to Beacon without having your aura unlocked? You must have known that you'd get caught eventually." That made the others look at me, making me sweat under pressure. Anything that I could think up was nothing. I was literally drawing blanks here for answers.

"I..I'd didn't really have a plan in my life," I explained. If I was going to tell them anything. I might as well tell them something about me, just not everything.

"My Mother was a pilot that was killed in a surprise attack when I was twelve, my father too not to long ago while trying to evacuate from our home during an attack," I said, shocking the girls. "When they were gone I had little direction left in life. Those guys you saw with me at the ceremony at the end of initiation, they were work buddies of my mother. They trained me and gave me a purpose, as well as a place to call my own. I would probably still be there if they didn't ask me to come here to build my own future." Not all of it was lies, and they hurt me somewhat that I couldn't tell them everything. But they wouldn't believe me anyway without some sort of proof.

"So when sent me off. The guy didn't know that my aura hadn't been unlocked but were the ones that put in my papers saying that I was trained and knew ready for anything that Beacon could throw at me. I just wish I knew they would have been throwing me so I could pack a parachute ahead of time," I finished lamely.

The girls around me had different reactions to my little gut spilling. Weiss looked at me in pity that made me want head slap her. Yang and Ruby looked at me with sadness and understanding from what Ruby had told me about their mother. So there was a sense of kinship in there between us. Blake looked sad and while lost in thought as I could see regret through her eyes. They say eyes are windows through the soul and I now have many questions about Blake.

"So..." I said breaking the awkward silence that had suddenly appeared. "What happens now?" I asked the four of them. Ruby was the one that answered.

"We all heard what Miss Goodwitch said. Despite everyone knowing you can fight without aura. You will need it if the professors let you stay here in school. So the answer to the problem is simple we unluck your aura!" Ruby said me.

"What?" I said in confusion.

"It does seem like the only way for you to stay," Blake agreed.

"Yes, girls all in favor?!" Ruby said with her hand raised. Yang and Blake followed suit leaving Weiss to roll her eye before Yang grabbed her hand and lifted it involuntarily, making the white-haired girl humph in annoyance but didn't deject. "Ok, the decision is made and is approved. Now, all we need to do is decide who's going to perform it." Said Ruby.

"Umm..." I didn't know what to say as I felt rooted in place on what to think about the situation. I wanted to protest something because this didn't feel right about this. "Do I get a say in this?"

"You want to stay here at Beacon with us right?" Yang asked to which I nodded. "Then one of us has to do it." Blake then stepped forward.

"I'll do it," she said as she walked in front of me.

"Blake?" I said.

"Can you trust me?" She asked as she looked me directly in the eyes while I into her's.

As I stared into Blakes amber eyes, I saw an old pain in them. Like she'd done things in the past but have regretted doing them and would hunt her for life. But also if I had to say it, trust in them too. If that was possible? Like she was willingly going to do this for me. I couldn't help but ask why. We'd only known each other for nearly a week, and she was willing to trust me with what was literally her soul!

"Yes..."

Blake gave me a small smile before kneeling down to my level and placed a hand over my heart and on the side of my head. "Breath and relax. This will not be long at all," Blake reassured before I felt a tingly sensation in my...everywhere. That was when I heard Blake chant something.

 _For in life that is always constant...there is chaos to its order._

 _For in twilight of battle we remain united...others stand together_

 _For when there are shadows in the dark...we are the ones to meet it_

 _For we are the light of the world against the darkness... unbound by death._

 _I release your soul to fight for not of yourself, for stand by me, for by my arms, defend thee_

 _._

That was when a surge of something or another rush everywhere within me. I felt everything pulse, and I mean EVERYTHING! I felt my mouth hung open as a silent, wordless scream came out of it. I felt my wounds, bruises, and old aches and pains flare up once more. If I wasn't already sitting down, I might have already been acquainted with the ground below I'm sure. Lastly, I felt a great pain coming directly out of my ass. Like I was holding back the most significant boul movement ever recorded by mankind.

Then it stopped.

...

I felt nothing...

...

...

I saw nothing...

...

...

...

I then realized that my eyes were closed. Opening them up felt like I saw the world in a much clearer view. Everything almost looked clear almost animated in a way with how everything seemed to pop out at you. I then saw Ruby come into view with Weiss next to her. They looked, wow! They looked great! I there was little to describe, its as if my perception had been doubled and I make out every feature on their faces, with their eyes shining bright with concern and fear. They were beautiful, but I was so confused.

"Was...that supposed to happen?" I asked the girls.

"NO!" Weiss snapped in her usual harsh demeanor. "That wasn't natural at all! Blake, what happened?" She asked the down Faunus sitting against a locker.

...Wait...why did I think Blake was a Faunus?

"His soul...felt different," Blake said, panting heavily with Yang by her side. "His soul felt like it was there and not there at the same time. It felt hollow, like an empty shell before I put a bit of my aura into it, but once I put mine in it, it just sucked more of me in him." She said, looking really tired.

"Are you alright?" Yang said in a concerning voice.

"Yes, he didn't suck my soul out if that's what you're implying. But that did catch me off guard and drained me of my aura, I should be back to normal in a minute." She assured her partner before turning to me. "How are you feeling?"

"Was my injuries and ass supposed to flare up in pain during this?" I asked them, my question made all the girls confused and looked at me weirdly.

"I'm pretty sure that's normal for recovering wounds but what about your, hindquarters?" Weiss asked hesitantly. Looking more confused than the others.

"I don't know! During the thing when my bruises and wounds flared so did my re...what the?" I began to explain but stopped when my hand reached the spot where it hurt the most. Only to feel a bulge where there really shouldn't be.

 _Oh god up in heaven. PLEASE tell me that isn't what I think it is_ , I silently pleaded as I pulled the liner down further of my bodysuit to the end. No smell came up to which I was super glad for but instead caught something instead. Pulling down further was where 'it' appeared.

With newly found freedom it sprung out of its opening revealing a nearly a foot and half long tail black and brown highlighted tail wagging freely. It was then I saw Ruby reach out and grabbed it. I think it was around there was when my mind went blank.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"...Can someone explain why does Ruger have a tail?" Ruby asked sounding loss completely, and she wasn't the only one either.

I think it was then when everything went black.

* * *

 **I know in that ending of this chapter I will be getting so many 'Whatthefuckery' faces at the end.**

 **There was also a debate about Ruger about getting an Aura. Well that was part of the mission Ruger was given my Anders. To study the world of Remnant and find out as much as he can about it while the Spirit of Fire is still stuck on in system.**

 **With Ruger becoming a Faunus. Here is the science behind that.**

 **Humans not from Remnant grew without having to manifest their souls and through the generations became empty. With Blake being a Faunus and using her aura(Soul) to fill up emptiness inside Ruger. Turning his vary being into that of what a Faunus would be like. This is where reveling Blake to be a Faunus early really going to upset the cannon from here on. Somethings will stay the same while others will get thrown out the window.**

 **Reviews that will be answer!**

 **Evinco - Racism is a dirty discussing thing. Only bringing it to the light to show everyone it can be brought down.**

 **VGblackwing - So true. And Remnant is so heavy reliant on Dust they try to pack everything small in smaller bullets. Like Ruby's sniper rifle bullet is maybe 2/3rd the size of S99 sniper rifle.**

 **Combine117 - It would be something to remember that's for sure.**

 **Guest 001 - thank you for your input for I am far from done. If your worried about Ruger being a protagonist its because of the point of view I prefer to write. I'm making this 1st person only with a few snips on the side.**


	9. Loosing Ones Humanity

**Beacon Academy**

 **RRWBY Dorm Room**

 **September 10, 0922**

* * *

I slowly came to and saw I was back in the dorm. I had the strangest dream. The girls found out that I didn't have an aura and unlocked it for me, but suddenly grew a tail form it. My thoughts were then quickly silenced when I heard some people talking near me. Looking in the direction of the voices I saw the rest of my team arguing with each other.

"We should have brought him to the school's infirmary, not back to our dorm room!" Weiss shouted at the others.

"And do what, Weiss?!" Blake snapped. "How are we going to explain this? Tell them that Ruger manage to get through the first week of school without his aura unlocked. That we just unlocked it and suddenly just grew a tail out of nowhere!"

Hear that made my eyes snap open as the memories of recent events flooded back in my head. My mind raced in everywhere without a sense of direction. But one thought stood out and echoed through my head.

I need to see it.

Looking down I saw that my beds blanket was covering me. Moving them aside I saw that the top part of my bodysuit off but my bottoms were still on. 'Thank you, ladies.' I silently thanked the girls. Turning to the side, I saw a cutout area in the bodysuit right above my rear showing off my new addition.

A black tail with brown highlights like the hair on my head. It was maybe one and a half feet long with the hair adding an extra two inches to the length and fluff around it. In a way, it reminds me of that of a dogs tail. If I can recall the types and breeds right, I would have to guess it reminded me of the Austrian cattle dog's tail. Like the one in that old road warrior movie from that the 20th century that was in my dad's old movie collection.

Now that I think about it, I did copy a lot of the movies from dad's collection unto my tablet. Those things do hold like fifty terabytes of data so I'd have to go back and check to see about them later. But back to the tail.

I reached out and grabbed it. The instant I touched it, a strange bolt of feeling went through my body. A wave of new sensations went through my head that my brain was having trouble coming up with solutions to this.

"Ruger?"

My thoughts halted as I then realized that the girls had finished their argument and were once again looking at me.

"Um...how are you feeling?" Ruby asked, real concern written all over her face. All four of them had looks of filled with worried about them.

"I...I don't know?" I replied truthfully. "If this was it feels like to have an identity crisis then I think I'm in the middle of one or in the starting stages of it. I mean how does one suppose to react when you spontaneously grow a TAIL? This doesn't seem physically possible. Can anyone give me a logical explanation about this because I don't believe unlocking one's aura is supposed to make people grow extra appendages like tails if so then I'd like to see where you four are hiding yours!" I started to say as my voice slowly rise in volume as my questions turned harshly towards the girls.

Ruby looked like she was about to cry. Weiss was looking away not meeting me at eye level. Yang was rubbing her arm while finding the wall to be very fascinating. Blake was looking down in sadness, her bow flattening against...her...head... What?

Looking intensely at Blake, her big black bow on her head was almost flopped over as if it...

" **Gurgle!** "

My thoughts were interrupted at the sound of a stomach rumbling. It was then I felt like I was punched in the gut as my belly was about to go on a warpath and raid nearby villages for food.

"Oh...you know what girls! Let's just put a hold on this conversation. And last I check I'm still a guy and guys like me can't think straight on an empty stomach. SO!" I jumped from my bed. "I say we grab some food, eat some dinner, soak my head in some frozen desserts and see if the cafeteria serves alcohol because I'm ready for this day to be done," I proposed.

"I think that would be for the best," Blake nodded in agreement.

"I agree," Weiss said with Ruby and Yang nodding as well.

"Too bad the cafeteria doesn't serve alcohol in school," Yang said offhandedly.

Looking down I was still in my body suit and went to pick up the rest of my kit. You were either in the school's uniform or in a combat uniform while on school grounds. Looking at my stuff, I saw that not everything of my ODST armor was here.

"Girls, where's my armor?" I asked.

"Oh! We were more worried about your well being so when Yang and Blake brought you to our team's dorm while Weiss, and I put your armor with your weapons locker," Ruby replied.

A wave of relief washed over me from the news. I did not want to explain to Anders or the Captain why I lost a set of ODST armor. "Thanks for that. I've only had that set for a short time, and I really want to keep it for as long as possible."

"Is it really that important to you?" Yang asked as she waited by the door.

"It did help me achieve victory in my match earlier and is very comfortable to wear," I answered before pulling out my duffle containing my other gear. I then started putting on my old clothes and my dad's vest. I could tell the girls were watching me as I gathered my gear before going entering the bathroom. A few minutes later of dressing and checking to see if I had any new additions other then my tail. I was also surprised to find that all the bruises from initiation to be gone, and the stab from Bro's sticks was just a small scar.

"Well...despite the over reliance of aura and the drawbacks, I can't deny the aspects of superhuman healing," I said in fascinated all I looked over myself over.

I re-entered the bedroom, catching the girls all in their regular combat clothes also.

"How many sets of armor do you have?" Weiss said as she eyed my dad's vest.

"Three," I answered. "This belonged to my father, one of the few things I own. I don't wear it often as the others anymore but felt like wearing it anyway," I explained.

"It looks really professional on you," Weiss approved.

"How's the new addition treating you?' Yang asked. I just gave her a flat look for reminding me of my predicament. I then turned around and showed off my new tail through a new hole cutout in my cargo pants.

"Snazzy!" Yang said while giving me a thumbs up. I rolled my eyes at her, but her attitude did make me smile a bit. We then left the dorm and made our way to the school's cafeteria while we formed a reverse star pattern with the two sisters leading the way followed by me and Weiss and Blake at the end. As we passed the other students, I took note of few of them that recognized me and looked down at my tail in surprise.

I bet their thinking like 'He's got a tail?' 'How did I miss that?' or 'Wat?' Despite the lack of love I have for my new look, I have to admit the looks I'm seeing were amusing me.

"Take a picture it'll last longer," I murmured.

"What was that?" Weiss said.

"Nothing, just a bit annoyed," I replied. Weiss didn't say anything back to which I was grateful. My opinion of my teammates was at an all-time low after Blake unlocked my aura. I know one of the mission parameters we're to learn about aura and semblances. The thought of gaining them was one of the things that could happen when I took this assignment, but this wasn't what I had in mind.

"Sigh." _This is going to be one hell of a first report com Saturday_. I thought dryly.

It wasn't long before we made it to the cafeteria. Most students were still in their school uniforms, but there were a few teams that weren't. When team RRWBY entered some of the students eyed us, or more specifically, me. As we walked, I hard the peanut gallery rise up once more.

"Dude, that's the guy! The one who won a fight without aura in fight class!"

"I didn't know that guy was a Faunus?"

"What's with that guy and armor?"

"He's a Faunus, what?!"

"A Faunus rooming with four smoking hot chicks? That bastard!"

"Was he hiding his tail? I don't remember seeing it when I was checking out that rear of his earlier."

Ok, that last one made me slightly uncounterable.

"Just try to ignore it," Blake said to me.

"I've heard that gossip is the fastest thing in the galaxy before, but I didn't believe it. Then again I've never been the main topic before," I replied. Some of the girls laughed at my response.

"You kidding? Your fight with that Lisdmand guy is like the talk the school now." Yang said.

"We'd already made a name for ourselves during initiation when our team took down that Nevermore. Your first fight in sparring class without aura and winning in a one on one duel has pretty much put us on top of the list of the most interesting teams of Beacon!" She explained

.

"Yep because of you were going to get a lot of attention to us," Weiss said.

"I...guess I should have expected that. Sorry," I apologized.

"Don't sweat it, Ruger. We're a team! As long as we're here, we got your back!" Ruby said joyfully. Her happy attitude showed brightly on her face, and that smile of her was as infections as that alien parasite.

We then entered the lunch buffet and began filling my plate with an assortment of meats and veggies. One of the few things I liked about Beacon was that the Cafeteria was like an all you can eat restaurant, and it was REAL food. Not the Military bland MRE's that I had to chow down for months in the ship's Mess halls but actual grown food! It was fantastic!

With that done I went with my team and sat together at an empty table with them, and we quietly ate our food. Or in my case surfing it down like it was my last. In mid-chew I looked up and saw the girls looking at me with an assortment of raised eyebrows, cocked heads, and amused faces.

Swallowing what I had in my mouth. "When did Cafeteria food get this good?" I asked before going back to eating with gusto.

"It hasn't...?" Blake said as she looked at me with morbid fascination.

"Um...are you feeling ok?" Ruby asked, sounding worried. The tone in her voice made me stop as I looked at her.

"Besides with what happened earlier, I'm ok I guess, why?" I answered before going back to destroying my plate.

"It's because you're showing us your inner 'beast' if you know what I mean," Yang said. The sound of a hand meeting a face could be heard. "You were really 'pray'ing down on that meat there." The sound of a head meeting the table was then sounded. Yang just rolled her eyes playfully as she continued her bad pun spree. "Come one people don't get your 'tails' in a twist! Ha! Get it?"

"Yang, that was bad, and you should feel bad for saying it," Blake said to her partner.

"Aw alright, you party pooper."

Before anyone said anything else, team JNPR arrived.

"Hey, guys! How's it going?" Nora said as she and the others sat with us.

"Probably dealing with the rise to popularity," answered Jaune as he sat across from me.

"You fought very well today, Ruger. Maybe we can spare one day? It was most interesting to see you fight." Said Pyrrha.

"You'd mopped the floor with me with that shield of yours Pyrrha. I saw the way you moved during initiation and in class. I'll need some heavy firepower if I'm going up against you," I replied truthfully, making the redhead smile in return.

 _This chick would give ODST's a run for their money in close combat._

"It was a fascinating fight to witness that also gave a most valuable lesson to remember," Ren commented before he began eating a set of vegetables.

From there on there was just small talk amongst our little group. After going back and getting a second round of food, I mainly stayed out of the main conversations due to my mind being elsewhere. Mostly the call I have to make to the Spirit of Fire later about the recent developments. There was also Blake that my mind kept going back to. I needed to speak with her alone. And I soon got my chance. After Dinner, we broke off from team JNPR and went back to our dorm.

"Hey Blake," I said, catching the girl in question before we entered our room.

"Can we talk...alone possibly?" I said as glanced back at the other girls. Blake looked really uncounterable but nodded in agreement. Without another word, I waved Blake over, and we left the other girls eventually and made it onto the roof of the dorms. I led her over to the corner of the roof, and we sat with our legs dangling over the side.

There we sat in silence for a hot minute. Neither of us spoke but I just know I was making Blake very nerves the longer we stayed. After another minute of silence, I think she had stored in awkwardness long enough.

"So...a bow."

My words seemed to be a slap to the face as she looked at me in...fear?

"H..How did?" She stammered her words.

"Since I first looked at you right after unlocking my aura earlier," I answered. "When I look at you...my mind, no, my very being says your a Faunus. Then earlier I saw that bow on your head twitch and moved a few times."

My explanation seemed to make her face go red in embarrassment as she looks away from. I then watched as her hand reached up and removed the bow, revealing a pair of black kitty ears that blend in with her hair.

"...My god...those ears are super cute." My words seemed to perk her ears up as she looked at me with a face that seemed to match Ruby's cloak. It was fantastic, and I laughed for the first time in a long while.

"Are you done?" Blake growled.

"Yea..." I sighed before we went back into silence. I looked down at my watch and saw it was already sundown and I noticed something off with my vision.

"Um...Blake?" I said, slightly panicked.

"Yes?"

"Is this normal?" Blake looked at me curiously.

"What?"

"I'm slowly going color blind before my very eyes..."I said in a growing panicked tone. Blake looked even more confused before getting what I mean.

"OH! Right... well all Faunus, regardless of what kind they are, all share the same trait of night vision. With what happened to you...I guess you have it too. Don't worry once you go back inside your eyesight will go back to normal." Blake told me.

"This is really trippy," I replied as I rapidly blinked my eyes. This made Blake laugh at my predicament.

"You're taking this surprisingly well," Blake said.

"I'm really trying hard not to think about it. I mean how am I supposed to react about growing a tail, seeing in the dark all of a sudden and no longer the species that you woke up this morning?" I asked her. Blake looked away, her kitty ears folded down in sadness.

"I don't know? And that's what I'm trying to understand! Humans and Faunus have been unlocking aura for as long as people have been writing about it on Remnant. There's never been anything like this sort of thing outside of movies and comics." Blake said in frustration, but some of her words did strike at me.

On Remnant.

"I don't know how this could happen," Blake continued. "I remember reading in books on what people experienced when they unlocked another aura, but this wasn't like that at all."

"Then what should have happened?" I asked the cat Faunus.

"Well from what I've read about unlocking aura it is like a whirlwind of energy that is locked up inside the person being unleashed outwards. But yours wasn't like that at all, it was quiet and still like your soul was so weak. When unlocking the aura of someone, the one who unlocks it uses their own our to bring it out. With you'res being so low I used mine to empower yours, but when I did so, I had to force myself to stop others wise my soul would have flooded into you. It's tough to explain, and I can not believe something like this happened. This is my fault this happened," Blake said in despair.

Letting loose a sigh, "Well, I'm going to admit that this!" I pointed to my tail, "is going to take some getting used. And for the record, I'm not blaming you for actions that are beyond your control, Faunus or Human otherwise. And short of surgically removing this, I'm just going to have to embrace the suck with having this new appendage. Man, this is going to be one awkward phone call to the guys back home." _I can only imagine the looks of disbelief The Captain and the Professor will have when I tell them I grew a tail. I'll probably wouldn't be allowed back on the ship until they do multiple examinations on me_. "And despite what little experience I knew about aura use doubt anyone could prepare for something like this. So do not blame yourself over things, and if you or any of the girls do blame yourselves I'll do something to remind you otherwise!" I declared.

"Like?" Balke asked with a raised eyebrow at my declaration. I gave her a sparkling smile as I reached and did something I saw a Gunnery Sergeant do frequently to Marines under him back on the Spirit.

I smacked the back of the feline Faunus' head, making her jolt in her spoke. "Wa...did you just?" She started to ask, her eyes going wide at the contact.

"Head slap you," I clarified. "Yes."

"Why?" She asked.

"A slap to the face is an insult, a slap to the back of the head is a wake-up call," I told her.

Blake just stared at me reverence before shaking her head. "You are one interesting person, Ruger. You know that?" She said with a smile.

"You can call me weird Blake. I don't mind," I replied. This got a laugh from the girl.

"We should head back," Blake said getting from her spot and put on her.

"Yea, we don't want them getting any funny ideas," I agreed as I followed behind her.

"Especially Yang," Blake nodded in agreement before I reached and stopped her.

"Are you going to cover up?" I asked her as I point to the uncovered ears on her head. I watch Blake look down at the bow in her hand, deep in thought. She then took the bow and tied it back on her head, covering her cat ears once more. "You're still going to hide what you are?"

"I don't feel ready to reveal myself to them. There are those around us that care little for the Faunus and would do harm to them because we are different from them. With you being as what you are now you'll now be forced to experience it first hand...I wouldn't wish it on anyone." She said as she turned away.

"I'm not talking about everyone, Blake. I'm talking about our team," I said making her stop to look back at me.

"I...I'm not ready..." She said as she looked away in shame before looking at me with fear in her eyes. "Please don't tell them," Blake begged.

By taking one look into her eyes gave me a gut retching sensation that just makes me want to hug her close and say everything will be alright. It was so sickly sad looking that could make the hard Marines from the Spirit flitch.

"Damn it you girls are going to be the death of me faster than a headshot from Ruby's sniper rifle. Fine, I won't tell them, Blake. But you will have to do so in the future. We're all going to be sharing a room together for a long time, and they're bound to find out sooner or later." I promised. Blake then surprised me with a hug.

"I know...Thank you..." Bake said sincerely before breaking the hug.

"Y-Yeah well, send me a holiday card or something another," I said, trying to keep myself sounding embarrassed.

We then exited the roof and made our way back to the dorm. Looking at Blake now, I don't know why but I could sense that she was more at ease with my presence now that I knew what she was and wasn't going to expose her secret. Although, there was a nagging feeling that she wasn't telling me everything. I'd also didn't get the 'why' she was covering herself up due getting distraction of my suden new sight. She was withholding secrets and I could feel it my mind. I don't know how I know this but I do.

Which begs the next question, would I ever be able reveal my secrets to them? How I'm not from this world. About the alien life out there above them looking to for the total annihilation of humanity. Captain Cutter would probably have me arrested for treason and exposing military secrets. Hell just me being here endangers every one of the _Spirit of Fire_.

 _If there is anything I've learned from history its that nothing stays secret forever._

But come Saturday, I'm going to need answers on just what the Captain was meaning when he introduced himself and the others as private contractors. Luckily the girls haven't said anything about it about them, but I wouldn't bet on my luck lasting long about that. I need some answers to what they are doing so I know what to say to the girls. Man, I know them for barely a week and their already getting to.

Plus there's this aura problem I'm going to be dealing with. I highly doubt I'm going to be left alone for the rest of my life as long as I have this tail if and when we returned to UNSC space. Well I am the first person not native to Remnant to get an aura. Wonder if I can get a Semblance too? There's just so many questions that keep popping up, both good and bad.

 _Just what was I thinking when I agreed to this?_

* * *

 **And once more, the story has taken a turn slightly away from the cannon.**

 **Review responses!**

 **possibly Gigan - Dear load. I think she'd get her first passive orgasm if she sees one.**

 **ptl - Yeah I put the law of equivalent exchange You gain something only to loose something in return. As for his tail he could try stuffing it in he body suit. And what OC's that will make an appearance would be more then likely be making one or two appearances in the story.**

 **Guest 001 -** **Remnants weaponry is more elemental. Like I see it as incendiary rounds and cryo bombs while they use Dust on armor. As for Remnants armor I see them made to tank heavy blows from Grimm, not rounds and shells from Cobras and Kodiaks.**

 **Evinco - Thank you, I like to keep some things original. But yea gaining something like a tail can greatly change someone's life.**

 **Guest 002 - And that's your opinion on that and you have a right to say it. And I too hope my story dosn't go down hill. But yea Ruger is in for some tough times up ahead.**

 **Guest 003- Then stay tune till next time.**

 **Combine117 - Things oar going to interesting I'm hinting at that.**


	10. Reports and Weapons

**Beacon Academy**

 **Beacon Cliff**

 **September 12, 0922**

* * *

" _Spirit of Fire,_ this is Echo 2-9 come in over," I said over my radio.

I had just finished my morning routine and retrieved my gear from my locker. It was still early by everyone standards for a Saturday but believed it wasn't for a navy ship. It had been two days since I've gained my aura and worked with it. Now It was time to tell the others what I have learned and get some info on what's been happening on their end.

" _Echo 2-9, this is_ Spirit of Fire. _Good to hear you survive your first week of school._ " Answered the smart A.I Serina.

I rolled my eyes at her statement. "Very funny Serina, how are things going on at your neck of the woods?" I asked.

" _I better take over for this one_ ," said an older male voice. " _How are things with you Ruger?_ " Asked Captain Cutter.

"I'm bunking with four girls that can utilize their very soul as living weapons. It's been an interesting week sir, that's all I'm gonna say about that," I replied in the most dried out tone I can muster.

" _I bet,_ " said Cutter. I could hear the smile coming through the receiver.

"Anyway sir, before I give off my first report there are a few questions I need to ask about. Especially about when you showed up last week and said you and the others are private contractors," I stated.

" _I figured as much. Let me explained. There are a few things are going on that you should be aware of that you'll be seeing soon enough,_ " the Captain said before he began.

" _I'll be honest with you, son. We're going to be stuck here for a good while, and while we can produce everything we need, there is one thing we can't produce very easy without breaking all kinds of regulations, and that's people_ ," He explained. I stayed quiet and mulled over what he said and allowed him to continue uninterrupted.

" _I have to be frank with you Mr. Tyler. We are stretched thin, and there is too large of an area around the Spirit to cover ourselves without additional support or assets. We lost too many at the hands of the Covenant and the parasite to operate in multiple regions while also working on repairs for the Spirit. It was then your fellow Arcadians brought forth a solution to my attention. Local recruitment._ " He said.

"You guys are gonna do a recruitment drive?" I said in surprise. "Sir, is that wise?"

" _Officially_ _I approved of it, but unofficially I'm against it_ ," he replied. " _Plus I have no guarantee of any loyalty to our cause and mission._ "

"How's this going to work? I don't think the natives are going to like the idea about joining the military out of the kindness of their hearts as payment or learn we aren't from their world." I asked.

" _Agreed but we have an idea for that. A few of the people that came with you when we evacuated Arcada were business marketers and tradesmen. When they learned of our predicament. They proposed to my officers and me about selling leftover raw minerals and non-mission critical items to bring forth and generate local currency. There was also mentioned things like non-classified tech. Such as our medical technology and car engines such as Bio-foam and the ICE I/C plants inside our Warthogs._ " He said.

Ok I admit, those things are pretty harmless by themselves and could really benefit the world as a whole in the long run and save lives. It would also slow down the process of relying solely on Dust and make people think of new solutions. I then continued listening.

" _All of this I left with the Professor to handle with and lent her the foundry to use for the duration of this assignment. I'm told so far everything has been going smoothly and will start producing civilian hog models to sell to the local settlements._ "

" _Anders is also going to propose our Bio-foam and other low-level medical technology to several hospital directors in the coming weeks,_ " Cutter further explained.

"Well that is something, but what about recruitment training, sir?" I asked. Sure I got trained by some of the Marines on the Spirit, but that was more on the job training than actual boot camp.

" _I've left that to Major Brewer and Col. Kisnano along with all three of his Army remaining regiments and battlegroup Firestorm, they are going to be handling is recruitment and training. He's alright got half the training areas and the building ready to use. I've already got a meeting set up with this council the city of Vale has for a government to legalize our case and recruit openly to the public. Bringing forth our case to protecting the people of this world_ ," The Captain explained further.

"Oh, my," I said in awe. The armored shield and pyromaniac in charge of recruitment and training. "Who's doing the training?" If it's Kisnano, I'd feel bad for them.

" _Major Brewer is, I'm him do the actual training while Kisano's Hellbringers are providing the security to the regions around the training areas and nearby settlements. She's also in charge of specialized training for when the new recruits get done with basic_ ," Cutter clarified.

"With her out burning out all the Grimm you'd more than likely gonna going to grab some unwanted company, Sir. With what I've read about places like Atlas, your gonna be attracting a lot of attention.

" _And your right, things are going to be busy around here. With all the activity will be brewing there will be little doubt that we will not draw attention to ourselves. But don't worry about us, you've got your own things to worry about rather than us. Especially after reviewing the video of Beacons initiation. I'm half tempted to order Brewer to put airborne wings on you for surviving through what you and those girls your teamed up with been through_ ," Cutter said.

"Well..." I started as a hopeful idea I had earlier came back. "You could send me one of those Troop Hogs that aren't being used in storage bay b-3? I would put it in much better use out with my mission at Beacon instead of it rusting away," I asked sweetly.

"I' _ll think about it_ ," The captain replied a hint of humor in his voice before becoming serious. " _But let us get down to your report now. We've stalled long enough as is._ "

"Yes, sir. Is the Professor with you? I strongly believe that what I have to say in my report she will want to hear as well. It's important," I suggested.

" _Serina?_ " The Captain asked.

" _Making the call now, one moment,_ " replied the A.I.

A few moments later I heard the Professor over the receiver. " _Captain, Serina said it was important?_ "

" _It is. We're on the line with Mr. Tyler on his first report of his mission. He asked for you to be online as well. All right Ruger, report your findings,_ " The Captain ordered.

A took deep inhale, exhale moment before I began. " _Well sir, everything seems to be a typical school would be like. But the major thing I would like to notify was during class two days ago. There I was put up against my first fight with another student._ "

"They do fights in class?" The Captain asked.

" _The feel more like duels more than anything_ ," I stated. " _They pit students of other teams and team matches to increase the efficiency of teamwork among the students. They switch it up every class between one on one, two on two, and group matches. All of it is controlled and supervised by a school professor._ "

" _Effective training methods. Forces the students to work together while also bettering themselves_ ," Anders concluded.

" _Alright continue_ ," Cutter said.

"That day was singles matches, one on one, and I have to say these people would put a gun or firearm into anything. From the level of creativity and engineering feats I've seen are in the absurd border lining crazy. The opponent I had to face down had a set of police nightsticks with a pistol barrel on one end and a sharp poker on the other. I was able to beat him due to how impractical his weapons were and take him down by firing several shots into his chest at point-blank range. I'll send you the recording along with some of the other things. But the main focus of this is what came after the fight." I informed them.

" _Let's hear it then_ ," The Captain asked.

"The Professor of the class, a Miss Goodwitch, figured out that I wasn't using aura and asked me why I wasn't. Apparently, it is mandatory to have one while in their sparing rings for safety reasons. Being that aura can block, and lesson blows similar to body armor. Even with wearing full combat gear she still signaled me out on it, and in front of the whole class too."

" _Well, that must make you popular amongst your peers,_ " Anders commented with amusement in her voice.

"I'm now a small-time celebrity do to the speed of gossip." I heard Anders give a small laugh over the receiver before continuing. "Anyways. I received a small stab injury at the end of the match and was doing some self-first aid where the rest of my team found me and learned that I didn't have aura period."

" _Well if your still there and haven't contacted us on an extraction then things went alright. How did your team handle the news?_ " Captain Cutter asked.

"They were all surprised for sure, Weiss most of all. She's the white-haired one. I also gained Yang's, the blond one, respect for entering Beacon without one. The last two were indifferent about me coming in without aura," I told them.

" _Well then, it sounds like you got a good team that will back you up in tough situations_."

"I got that vibe as well, sir. Especially when they told me they were going to unlock my aura." After saying that Anders cut it.

" _You've gotten your Aura unlocked?!"_ She then went into a series of technical questions that were very hard to follow until the Captain stepped in.

"Professor! Maybe it is best to hear what he has to say before jumping to conclusions don't you think?"

" _Right, sorry. Continue Operative Tyler_ ," the Professor said, trying to sound professional again after her outburst.

"Yes, well as I was saying. I would probably be kicked out without an aura, so my team right then and there unlocked it. It will definitely be one of the things I'll never forget, and it. Hurt!" I declared.

"When it activated my whole body flared up like I was on fire! Especially on any injuries, I had on me at the time. Like this was some baptism of fire or something and I was being reborn with all my wounds disappearing in an instant. When it was done, the girls said that that was not what suppose to happen at all. I later came to believe that humans are different in this world then what it was like on Earth." I explained to which Anders spoke next.

" _I'm still working on how that is possible. There is so little history here that some even overlaps it to the point that I can't find anything concrete past thousand years. Hell, they haven't even invent guns till a little over hundred years ago. Sufficient to say the humans of this world technology evolved vary differently than ours. I figured it must be this_ 'Dust' _these people solely relies on. But that's for later...contine_ ," Anders said before handing the conversation back to me.

"After that, I began experimenting with it with my morning training. I'd noticed some improvements to my physical fitness. The first was the small things like my sudden improvement in my running and recovery time of my exercises. Then I was able to double the height of which how high I can jump while in full kit and with my full loadout. I haven't tried it yet, but I feel like I could make a twelve-mile ruck march in two hours with how everything feels," I'm exaggerating a bit, but with how much of a workout I've been doing within so little time with the usual vintage is pretty noticeable.

" _Well, this is very interesting. Despite the pain from healing past injuries, you felt this may be beneficial for future research_ ," I heard Anders commented.

" _I find this to sound a little too good to be true, I assume there some drawbacks to this?_ " Questioned the captain.

"Depends on much is used in one sitting, sir," I replied. "Many aura users paced themselves in long-winded fights to the point where they exhaust their aura amounts. Pushing them further risks permanent damage to the body. That's why there are schools are in place, to work on both control and building up said aura pool to last longer in fights. If the user is out of aura, the standard strategy is to pull back, rest for a time and head back in."

" _A reasonable strategy due to the kind of enemy they are trying to fight against. Still good work_ ," praised the Captain.

"Thank you...sir," I replied, before sounding hesitant. Moment of truth.

" _Something the matter Ruger, got something more to report?_ " The captain question.

"Yes, sir. It concerns with the last thing that happened to me after my aura was unlocked...I'm no longer human." I confessed.

Silence crept over the line for a few moments. I could imagine they were having looks of confusion over what I just said. " _Explain_ ," Captain Cutter said in a smooth commanding voice.

"When unlocking someone else aura, that person uses a part of themselves to help push it out, like a boost in the right direction. It must be that I'm not from this world to show they used a little more than they what was required to the point that there were dangers to both me and the one performing it. The sole problem that led me to this me no longer human by this world's standards was due to who was unlocking my aura. My teammate Blake, who I recently found is a Faunus in hiding from the racism of other humans are like. I wasn't aware of due to how well she hid her features. The end results of all this...I have a tail..."

" _...Repeat last transmission Ruger...It sounded like you said you have a tail?_ " Anders asked over the line, sounding very confused.

"Confirmed, Professor. I sprouted what looks like a foot and a half long, long dog tail out at the end of my lower spine, right on the tailbone is at." I confirmed. "I've got photos to confirm it. They'll be with the combat videos in a separate file.

" _Professor..._ " The Captain said next.

" _I'm...at a loss of what to do here sir_ ," the Professor.

" _Same...Mr. Tyler_ ," He addressed.

"Yes, sir?"

" _Send us those files you have. Then I want you to be on standby at the school, I'll be sending in a team to Vale to set up a lab and research outpost. What's your current health status?_ "

"Green, sir," I answered.

" _Good. Tomorrow at your earliest convenience. I want you to link up with the team there so that they can determine if this will be a problem for everyone in the future. Aura is still an unknown to us, and right now we need to know more."_

" _The team will do a physical and take samples of this new development...I'm sorry Ruger. This was not what was supposed to happen when I sent you on this op," Cutter said, a tint of sadness in his commanding voice_."

"Captain, I don't think anyone saw this coming. But it's not all bad...the girl's I've been really supportive and are helping me with practicing with how to use my new found abilities such as my aura, the natural night vision and how to move my tail. This stuff is all new to me, Umm sir?"

" _Yes,Tyler_?"

"Am I going to be pulled out?" I asked. I really hoped not. I was actually starting to like this place. Beacon and the other students growing on me. Especially the antics of the girls get sucked into, never a dull moment with them. They are all different and somehow are starting to work well with each other and with me. Weiss had been teaching me the basics of using my aura. Yang had been getting up early with me and going over how to fight at close range. Blake was showing me in privet how to deal with being a Faunus while Ruby and I have started to bond a bit over team tactics and weapons. "Because I think that if I get pulled out, people will notice my absence and would start looking for answers." The line was silent before the Captain spoke.

" _...I don't like it but your right about that. You are already waist deep into this assignment as is, and if we pull you out, there will be no doubt it will cause a stir...Very well. After the team you'll meet takes their samples you will return to your mission. Is that understood?_ " Cutter declared.

"Yes, sir!"

" _Good, see to it done. Spirit actual out_." The line then went dead as it was cut off from the other end.

I sighed from both the stress and relief at the end of his first report. Having finally gotten that out of the way I punched in on my tablet and sent the files I had with me and sent them to the Spirit before deciding to turn around and head back to Beacon.

* * *

After going back, I swung by my weapons locker and picked up my weapons. I hadn't cleaned them all week and felt that they needed some tender cleaning. Swiping my scroll over the electronic lock, I entered the team's dorm room to see the rest of my team off doing their own things.

Weiss was at one of the desks writing on a paper. Yang was on her bunk listening to what she had on her scroll with Blake on her bed reading a book under her. Ruby was down the floor reading a magazine and was the first to notice my entrance. She looked up from her spot and greeted me.

"Hey, Ruger! How'd your call to your friends go?" She asked, this also gained the attention of the other girls.

"It went alright," It was a lie, the call was nerve racking. "I...I told them about my new addition," I said as I looked at my tail nervously. Blake was the next person to talk,

"How they take it?" She asked.

"They are very confused."

"I wouldn't be surprised by that. I know my family would be shocked about that if I suddenly an extra appendage," Weiss remarked.

"I wonder what you would look like as a Faunus, Weiss?" Yang commented, throwing the Heiress off. Before she could reply back Ruby butter her way in.

"Oh! Weiss, you could have cute fox ears that match your hair!" She commented as she looked at her partner, much to the Heiress annoyed nature.

"A fox?!"

"It would go well with your snappy nature," I commented as I sat my weapons on my bed before reaching into my ruck for my cleaning kit.

"Excuse me," Weiss snapped, much to the amusement of the sisters.

"Anyway, my call went alright. But I am going to meet with a few of my friends tomorrow that have a medical background to give me a once over. So far to anyone this has never happened before and want to know if something like this would happen again or if I'm the only case," I explained. I then picked up a towel and laid it out on the floor before setting Whisper and Legacy on it.

"That sounds like a smart move," Blake commented for the first time. "If you grew a tail who knows what else that could have happened to your body on the inside. Best to get looked over by a doctor before some major problem shows up during something, like when we're fighting Grimm." She pointed out.

"That's why I'm going," I declared.

I then began dismantling my fathers modified SMG. I had just removed the upper and lower receiver and was about to remove the bolt when I took note I was being watched. Looking up I saw Ruby had moved from her spot on the floor and crawled her way over to where she eyed my weapons with a critical look.

"Can I help you team leader?" I said off handley as I took the bolt out of the upper receiver and began taking apart the bolt.

"Sorry," Ruby apologized. "I was just interested in how your weapons worked. They were pretty simple to use when you showed them off in combat and wanted to take a look."

"Not much to look at they are pretty basic, compared to your weapon, Ruby. Like I said before, I'm best at fighting from a distance." I told her as I took a rag and whipped off the old carbon off.

"What's all that black stuff?" Weiss said as she took note of my cleaning.

"That's carbon residue, Weiss," I answered as her as I cleaned up _Legacies_ firing pin.

"How did that get there? Dust rounds don't leave behind carbon residue." Yang was the one to answer her.

"He uses antique gunpowder rather then Dust, Weiss," she told the girl. Shocking her as she looked at me.

"What!? Why would you use such outdated ammunition? Dust is so much more superior," she said with confidence.

 _Not really_ , I thought offhandedly. I just leaned back and pulled out one of my ammo boxes from under my bed that contained my live rounds. Opening it up, I reached in and pulled two of them out and tossed one over to Weiss and handed the other to Ruby.

The two of them insistently took an interest in my bullets as they both looked at them with a critical look. "What is this? I don't recognize the way this is made." Ruby asked as she turned the bullet over in her hand.

"Tell me, how are regular rounds infused with Dust act when fired?" I asked back.

"Dust infused rounds are the product of one or two types of Dust molded into a form for the multisided of types weapon types throughout Remnant," Weiss replied.

"Yes, well when you take ordinary everyday metals, smelt, press and condense it into a smaller form, will increase its density and mass of the round. Turning it from a simple lump of steel into a crushing armor-piercing projectile that would shred into anything it hits at high speed. That round your holding has already been tested to go through an inch of solid iron with no problem," I explained to them. Making the girls eyes look at the small round in shock.

"Whoe...and you use those in class?" Yang said as she had got off her bed and walked behind her sister.

Instead of answering golden haired brawler, I leaned back and pulled out the non-lethal ammo. Pulling out the rubber bullets I used for my SMG and M6 and handed them to the girls. I even then saw Blake leaning in, looking at the new ammo.

"Rubber bullets?" Blake said with a look of interested at the rounds.

"When I learned I was going to be fighting other students I didn't want to chance of accidentally killing another student, so I got these made for when I'm in fighting in class and use these rather than my AP rounds. Mainly because I don't know how to gauge a person's aura very well or how long they will last under assault from ammo that is designed to punch through armor," _and energy shields._ I thought that last part. "So I had these made ahead of time. They won't kill but they sure as hell won't feel good after getting hit by them either," I explained.

"That's really responsible of you," Weiss said offhandedly.

"Thank you," I said as I went back to cleaning.

"Still, you should look into getting some Dust rounds. You'll spend less time cleaning your weapons since you have three of them."

"Four if you count the combat knife he has on his chest," Yang said as she eyed _Buck_. "Hey, Ruger can I take a look at the shotgun?" She asked.

"Sure," I said as I continued to clean my gun but kept an eye on Yang. I watched as Yang grabbed hold of it and yanked it up much to her surprise.

"W-What?" The brawler stuttered. "It's so light!" She said as she handed _Buck_ back and forth to each hand as she felt the weight. "The way it feels it seems like I'm carrying around a plastic stick!"

"Really?" Yang the handed it to Ruby, whose eyes seemed double in size as she took hold of it. "Whoa...how did this not break this when hit Bro with it like a club? This baby must weigh in about thirteen pounds. What material did you use to make it so light? With it firing 8-gauge shells of all things!" Ruby asked in awe.

This made me stop cleaning as I looked at her in confusion. "I...um didn't make it Ruby. It's how my Dad got it for me. The only major change I've done to it is attached a flashlight and smart link scope too it while giving it a smooth onyx finish." I explained as reassembled my bolt and worked on the receivers.

"Smartscope? What's that?" Ruby asked. Making me freeze up a little.

 _Crap, wasn't supposed to say that. The girls probably don't have that here. Well let's see if I can use the Atlas lie again. Seems to work well enough. Even if i hate it,_ I thought quickly.

"It-It's from another defunct project that Atlas threw away due to uninterested parties." I lied through my teeth. "The same place where my armor came from too. They were probably on the same project also with how the systems work well together. It's where a lot of stuff my friends get their plans for things came from."

"Okay, but what makes it smart?" Weiss asked as she looked down at the attachment. "And why do you have one for all your guns?" She pointed out to the other two on the floor.

"Well...Ruby grab my helmet would you please," I asked the red reaper nicely. To which she did and handed it to me. I then pressed the button on the inside to turn on and handed it back to Ruby. "Put it on and raise up _Buck_ ," I instructed, to which she did.

"Whoa...this is so cool! What's this circle that's waving around the, oh it shows where the weapon is pointing! That's so awesome!" Ruby said in excitement.

"Correct. I got one on all my guns, allowing me to shoot from the hip with more actracy then just spray and pray," I explained. "Got to pull my weight around somehow to keep up with everyone here who likes to bash and slash Grimm." Then a thought came to me as something that got me wondering.

"By the way, what's wrong with my guns being light? How heavy are your weapons?" I questioned the girls.

Ruby then left the room with a trail of rose petals behind only a few moments later to return with her's and the rest of the team's weapons in hand.

"How did you get _Myrtenaster_?! I didn't tell anyone my locker combination," Weiss said, not amused in the slightest of our team leaders antics.

Before anyone can comment, Ruby carefully handed _Crescent Rose_ over to me. My eyes nearly popped out of my head in shock as I dubbed over trying to keep it up. It felt like I was carrying a heavy dumbbell!

"What the?! Ruby, how can you carry this thing? it must weigh in at fifty pounds!" I wasn't exaggerating at all. The thing had the weight to match that. How the hell can someone so skinny swing something like this around like it was a rubber toy!

"Close my baby weighs about fifty-eight point six pounds!" Ruby answered, her tone filled with pride.

"How have you not thrown your back out of ailment while swinging this thing?" I asked in shock.

"Aura." She replied. Not caring for the for the tick I have in my left eyelid.

"Right...anyway here you go," I handed back Ruby her custom weapon."By the way, why did you grab everyone's weapons?"

"Well..." Ruby started, tilting to the side. "Since your cleaning your weapon I thought maybe we all can do a bit of weapon maintenance and learn more about each other's weapons!" Yang shook her head at her sister antics as she took _Ember Celica_ from Ruby.

"That's my sister, always wanting to do something weapons related."

"Nonetheless it is a good idea." Blake agreed. "We've been using our weapons every day either in or out of class this past week, and I haven't inspected much this past week." She said as she retrieves _Gambol Shroud_.

"I suppose," Weiss said reluctantly as she picked up _Myrtenaster_.

It was for the next two hours till dinner that we talked about nothing about weapons. I stayed in my spot on the floor with Ruby sitting across from with her _Crescent Rose_ disassembled, showing off its complexity to me. Weiss and Yang talked at over a nearby desk discussing about using different kinds of Dust other the fire Dust in _Ember Celica_. Blake was sitting by herself with a wet stone in hand sharpening her oversize clever\sheath.

Later we cleaned everything and had dinner. Overall it wasn't a bad day.

It is tomorrow that's going to raise a few eyebrows.

* * *

Sorry for the long wait for some of you. I just started taking 12 week classes and so I've been pretty busy this week.

So don't expect updates as often as I did before.

* * *

Reviews :)

Guest 001- I update when I want, *snap*

GreenTheRyno - I will reveal nothing of this B&R situation. As for Cardin...Hehe you'll see later.

joeyginise - meh... no ones perfect.


	11. Lunch room Brawl

**Beacon Academy**

 **Sparing classroom 2**

 **September 31st, 0922**

* * *

I couldn't help slightly cringe at the match I was watching. It was Jaune facing off against team CRDL's leader, Cardin Winchester.

It had been a few weeks since I visited the team that checked me over due to my new tail. They did a full physical, asked some health-related questions, and took blood and hair samples for analysis. I was expected to hear from them later on in the coming weekend for any answers they could give me medically, but they were still puzzled by all it. I still wasn't sold on my 'soul' being freed and suddenly growing a dog tail being the answer I was looking for. I think it may have something to do with Blake being a Faunus but if so why did I get a dog tail and not a cat ears or tail? It all made little sense, and the questions have been knocking me upside the head like a kid banging a drum. Since then it's been business as usual, or what counts as usual one could get from a school that trains to fight giant monsters.

While also being revealed as a Faunus to the school. That I was still getting used to.

I could not understand the mindset some of these people have here. Racism is virtually nonexistent in the Colonies or the UNSC. Skin color or religion don't mean much when trying to build a colony, everyone pitches in. The UEG and UNSC care more about skill sets, hard work, and general knowledge then what you look like. So now having to be put up with some of the other teams' racism against me because I have a tail now was really starting to get to me.

One of them being the guy June was losing against.

Bring my thoughts back to the duel. It had been going on for nearly a full five minutes with Cardin constantly taunting and bashing white knight to the ground. If there was anything that I've learned from Arc is that this dude doesn't know how to properly fight people and doesn't know how to stay down.

"Jaune may not know how to swing his sword proper, but the guy sure can take a few hits," I said.

My words went unanswered as everyone watched as Jaune gets kneed in the gut by Cardin. Making him dropping his sword and fall to the floor in pain. I watch as Cardin raise his mace, looking to finish Jaune off when the buzzer rang. Singling the match was over.

"Cardin that is enough!" Professor Goodwitch shouted. Cardin relented and walked away as she stepped on the arena floor.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official would call the match." Glynda explained to the rest of us.

Glynda then turned to Jaune. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gaging your aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when to move to a more...defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to gobble up by a Beowolf, now, would we?" She lectured.

"Speak for yourself," Cardin commented.

My eyes narrowed at the teen. This guy had been one of the primary instigators of all the inner conflict that happens within the student body. I have yet to fight any of the members of team CRDL. Mmm, I'm pretty sure this is how the school deals with the tension between students. Have a problem then take it in the ring. Man, why didn't the schools in the UEG not have this? So many issues in the past could have been settled so quickly.

"Remember students," Glynda continued. "The Vytal festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other Kingdoms to arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who chose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing Vale!" She reminded everyone. Making many of the students and pumping fists in excitement.

The news of the tournament also got me riled up a bit. From what I could read up on it since I first heard of it, the Vytal Festival is the combat tournament, in which students from the numerous Huntsmen academies compete. Doing a little digging into its history, I found that the Vytal Festival was inaugurated following the end of the last great war that occurred in this world roughly eighty years ago. Some of the reasons the war lasted so long were the differences of individuality and self-expression. The different diversity of the four kingdoms kept each other away and which caused significant problems in communication. But they all came together to fight the rising tied of Grim that was attacking everyone, so they ended up all settling their differences aside and defended each other from attacks. Later after alongside together, they stumbled together, into peace.

Now that's something that hasn't happen very often back with the UNSC. Hmpt, doubt that the Insurrection would do that with us for the Covenant.

I followed behind my team as we made our way towards the Cafeteria for dinner. Making our way through the lunch line, I gathered up a bowl of hot soup and several slices of bread. Alone with a set of cups of water and apple juice. With dessert being a bowl of banana pudding. When everyone learned from Professor Anders about the food on this plant and how Earth like it all was. Everyone on the Spirit couldn't stop talking about how great the fresh food tasted compared to the MRE's and heavily preserved food we've been forced to eat for the months of deployments became a great morale booster. Everyone loved the wild apples that were picked up by the patrols that grew near the ship.

As we ate, I sat with the rest of my team as team JNPR sat across from us. I sat next to Blake and Yang as the later, and I paid attention to Nora tell a story while Ren told us what really happened.

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." Nore said, adding in some dramatic flair.

"It was day," Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursa..."

"They were Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!" Nora screamed as she stood abruptly from her spot.

"Two of them." Ren corrected again.

"But they were no match...and they were no match in the end, and later Ren and I made a bunch load of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora finished, arms crossed with a satisfying look in her eyes.

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now.

"Nora," I said getting the gingers attention. "If for some stupid reason you are unable to become a Huntress you should go into book writing. You'd make a killing off making children stories."

"Jaune? Are you ok?"

All conversation stopped as we all focused on Pyrrha and Jaune. Pyrrha and Ruby were giving Jaune looks of concern why the guy himself looked like he was down in the dumps.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?" Jaune asked, snapping out of whatever trance he was in.

"Well, it's just that you seem...not okay," Ruby said.

"Yeah, you looked like you just got dumped by your girlfriend," I said off-handed. Apparently, I shouldn't have announced that as Jaune and every girl at the table looked at me in shock. But only Pyrrha and Nora reacted verbally by shouting 'WHAT?!'

"Jaune you have a girlfriend?!" Nora said, pausing a moment before realizing what she heard. "And you got dumped! Who is she will break her legs!" She declared with a psychotic smile that promised the wrong kind of fun. Pyrrha looked like...I really don't know what. Like a cross between anger, rejection, and sadness. With all the excitement Juane panicked.

"What know I don't have a girlfriend!" He said over the group. I took note that Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief.

"You say that like its a good thing?" Yang teased. This made the blond knight audibly groan.

"Guys, I didn't have a girlfriend, to begin with, and above all I'm fine, see!" Jaune said with an unconvincing smile. This made all of us deadpan at the guy. Before anyone could comment further on the matter, we were all drawn to a commotion happening at a nearby table. That table also happened to have all four members of team CRDL standing around a bunny Faunus with brown.

Seeing this made me lose interest in whatever conversation the rest of the table was having. My sight was focused directly on team CRDL as they started harassing the girl that just wanted to eat her lunch in peace. That peace was shattered when Cardin grabbed and tugged the girl's ears, laughing as the girl cried in pain.

That did it.

Before my parents past, they taught me the ways of chivalry and is only dead if you allow it. One of those lessons was how to defending a girls honor.

Glancing around I saw the other students' ether paying attention and not doing anything, or they were outright ignoring it. This made my blood rush to a boil. I didn't know it, but I was also growling like a bog.

Having enough of what I was seeing, I grabbed my water and drank it all in a pair of gulps before standing up grabbing my soup bowl and walking towards the commotion. No doubt that my sudden leave had caught my teammates attention as I made my way around and behind the worthless piece of lard.

As I walk up behind Cardin, I thought up ways on how to deal with him. I knew if I do something against him; I'd also have to deal with his cronies. Then an idea stuck out that just fit the punishment on what to do here. But would it work out in the end?

Let's find out.

With my soup bowl in my right hand, I reached out tapped Cardin's shoulder with my left. This made him release the bunny's ears as all five of them turned to look at me.

That's not very nice," I said, my voice sounding clear and unthreatening. Cardin looked at me like I was crazy till he saw my tail and smiled.

"Hey, guys look at this, another freak!" He said but gave no reaction to the weak insult. Seeing my lack of emotion seemed to trigger that he was getting nowhere as he stood up from his spot, the rest of team CRDL watched from the other side of the table and the bunny Faunus looked surprised at me. Now Cardin is a bit of a big dude that I've noticed, almost taller than me by a full head. Almost perfect height for what comes next. "What you want 'Mut?'"

' _Twitch_ ' _Mut?_ ' _Twitch_ '

"Sorry, I'm partially deaf and didn't hear you properly," was my reply as I tilted my head to the right to show my ear. This seemed to make him annoyed as he took my words as an insult as he got within range for my intended target.

"I said, what do you want MuUUKKKKK!" He screamed.

 _His aura was down...good._ I thought evilly. Lighting fast hand with aura infused I had grabbed Cardin's ball sack.

After Cardin had shrieked, the whole cafeteria went silent as they looked at us with my hand on his groin.

"Now that I have your undivided attention this is what's going to happen. Not if, IS. You WILL not be pulling on any girls ears. You WILL clear up your's and your teams acts of your racism up. You WILL strive to be a better person. Any deviations from any of the things I've said and I WILL make it my personal mission to make you and your team's lives hell while they are here at Beacon." I listed off before applying a bit more pressure to his nuts making sure my point get to his thick skull. "Is there anything that I've said that you do not understand or would like to be repeated?" Twisting my head ever so slowly while also taking my soup bowl up to my mouth.

"Get this asshole!" Cardin screamed to his team.

"Guess not," I said offhand I took some soup in my mouth before doing a co-de-grace n Cardin's nutsack.

 _Grab._ "AAHHHHHHH!"

 _Squeeze._ "OHHHHHHHHH!"

 _Twist!_ "ALLLLLL!"

 _PULL!_

As I released Cardin from my grasp, I imagine all the pain was feedbacking back into the guy's head. Making it hurt more than it should have as he fell down to the floor, crying in pain. Plus I think I permanently changed the guy's voice to a higher octave with that last move. I then felt every eye on me at that moment. _Well so much for low profile._

It was then the three cronies, Russell, Dove, and Sky decided to attack.

Sky reached me first due to him being closer. He jumped over the table looking to deck me in the face. I entered spat the soup I had in my mouth in his face. Chicken chunks, pees, and liquids splashed into his face and reacted like he was getting hit with a water hose before slipping on a tray and tumbling off onto Cardin. Russell and Dove came next. Dove rushed forward with a fist pulled back ready to strike. Taking a step back I threw the remaining soup from my bowl in the air in front of him and watched as he rushed right into it. Stepping to the side, Dove rushes over the pron form of Cardin and trips over his team leader and into Sky. Lastly came Russell, the mohawk teen rushed at me with a wordless warcry and overextended punch. Ducking under his swing, I shot off a pair of punches of my own and connected with mohawks gut making Russell dub over, whether it was surprise or pain I didn't know or care as I grabbed the arm he tried punching me with. With a yank and a twist of my body, I threw the teen over my shoulder and landed him on top of the rest of his teammates. Making a nice pile of tangled limbs.

I smiled in satisfaction at what I just accomplished. All those lesson and sparring sessions with the rest of my team had really put me in the best shape I've ever been when improving my CQC and my reaction time. I really need to find a way to thank them all for helping me later.

Turning to the reason for this whole fiasco. I saw the bunny Faunus looking at me with big eyes.

"You alright?"

"Huh?!" She said in surprise.

"I asked if are you alright?" I said again. My words seemed to get through to her as she nodded her head.

"Yes, thank you for helping me."

"It was no problem. I did what any guy should do." I assured her as I picked up her lunch tray off the table and handed it to her. "I think it best you find another table. This one looks a bit dirty." I motioned at the table cover in my leftover soup. This made the girl giggle a little at my little joke.

"Y-yes I believe so." She said.

"Buy the way, Ruger Tyler at your service ma'am," I said, slowly extending my hand.

I noticed the girls face flushed red as looked at my hand and then at me a few times before accepting it, "V-velvet."

"A pleasure to meet you Velvet. Where's the rest of your team?" I asked.

"Oh, my teammates went back to our team room. They were going to freshen up after combat class today and should be here soon," Velvet replied.

"Well till they get here how about you come over and sit with my team and me?" I pointed out where my team and team JNPR sat. "You'll find nothing but friends there."

Before leading Velvet away, I turned back to CRDL as most of them mine the leader was now up on their feet. "You might off and take your leader to the infirmary to get his balls checked, or do you prefer to be further humiliated in front of the whole student body?" My words seemed to reach them as they saw the other students looking at them, some even had their Scrolls out. Seeing what was going on, they grabbed their leader and left the Cafeteria.

Bullies, they crave for attention, but when that attention is turned against them, they crumbled like an empty soda can.

I then led her back to my table saw everyone's reaction. Jaune looked at me with awe. Ren looked impassive at the event but nodded in approval at what I did. Nora was smiling like a maniac. Pyrrha looked glad at what I did but also conflicted. Ruby was looking at me with wide eyes of admiration. Weiss was indifferent as she looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Blake was smiling warmly at looking more than approving of my actions. Yang was disturbing me a bit with that sly smile of hers, living with the brawler for last few weeks allowed me to pick up on a few things and I could tell she had something up her sleeve.

"Girls and guys, of teams RRWBY and JNPR, this is Velvet. She is going to be having dinner with us until her team comes around." I said I led the girl over and let her sit next to Blake. Figure that Faunus should stick close together as I sat on the other side.

"That was awesome! The way you spat your soup at them was just so cool!" Nora said.

"An unconventional tactic to use on multiple opponents but worked in your favor nonetheless," Ren commented.

"I really like how you opened up with grabbing the dudes crouch and went with knight saving the whole damsel in distress theme," Yang said, looking at me with some kind of knowing look. This made me glance over to Velvet's redding face.

"I don't know what you're talking about Yang," I denied." Besides, I just don't care about racism and bullying. There's no place in this world for such even more so in this school where we're supposed to learn how to defend the people against monsters." I then looked at the others at the table. "Tell me guys, what will the ones that were trying to protect, see the acts that team CRDL just did to Velvet out in public when we're fully all licensed Huntsman?"

"The people will lose faith in Huntsman," Pyrrha answered to which I nodded.

"We'd lose support in the people, and they would more than likely turn their backs on us or label us as criminals."

My words seemed to strike home to all of them Ruby especially. "That's awful," she said.

"It is."

"You know team CRDL isn't going to let this down now. They're going to want to get back you for humiliating them." Weiss said.

"Yep, but not today. But when team CRDL does try to come after me, I'll be ready and make them regret not changing their ways." I declared.

"What?! But aren't you worried about the actions you take?" Weiss snapped.

"Why would I worry about the actions I take? I don't regret a thing I just did, and if I see it again, I will act like I did so before again."

"What?" The group asked together.

"I was never really interested in things like popularity or status. Being there for when others are in need and are way more important than gaining glory."

"Really?" Yang said, her voice laced with disbelief.

"I came here to learn about the world, further myself to be better and help others." That wasn't true, but I was slowly believing in that. After staying with these people, their problems with the Grim maybe nowhere near as severe as to what the Covenant are doing to the rest of humanity. But the inhabitants of this world are alone and don't have the resources, tech or enough man to hold the line against the growing number of enemies that regularly surround all the cities of this world. Unlike the UEG or UNSC where they would evacuate and give up this world. But without starships, these people chose to take a stand and fight day by day for their survival. "Here's a quote I learned a while back that is appropriate to now," I said while getting everyone's attention.

"Evil wins when good people do nothing."

A simple meaning that weighs heavily on the mind when looked at the world as a whole after considering everything.

"For even the simplest of things like bullying that breeds fear and can turn into hatred. Like a wound that hasn't been treated and gets an infection, it'll spread, consuming the person whole. What we saw there is the start of it and how organizations like the White Fang become violent and become terrorists." I said, almost in feeling like I was giving a lecture. "It's our job to be the example, not the exception to others least we spit on the graves of all those who've sacrificed themselves to make places like Vale."

Everyone at the table looked at me in shock, even the expressionless Ice Queen. Their eye filled with levels of awe and realization.

"Besides, I never really saw any difference between Faunus and humans."

This made everyone look like I grew a second head. But it was Blake that asked the question. "What do you mean?"

"Take away my dog tail or Velvets bunny ears, we'd look just like humans. Plus look at where we are now. We share the same world, same sky under the same stars. We can even have kids together and start our own families. Tell me any of you, what other differences are there?"

I watched as the teams looked at each other as if expecting someone to say anything on the subject. I could imagine much of what I've said so far has stirred many questions in their minds and been rethinking a few things. More so I think for my team and especially Blake as they all knew that I was human before growing a tail and Blake being a Faunus in hiding.

"You're really something you know that, Ruger?" Blake said to me. Velvet nodding with her.

Any further talks on the matter stopped as everyone just sat in silence as everyone continued to think over what was just said. Surprisingly it was Nora that spoke first.

"Ruger, were you a wise man in the past life?"

Unfortunately I was eating a spoonful of banana pudding when she said that. Making do a spit take and started laughing which was soon joined by everyone else at the table.

* * *

 **Sorry viewers and followers for the long wait. My English 2 core class has me writing essays every week and I had to rewrite this twice to make it feel right with the story. Plus now were moving on with the story and about half way through Vol 1.**

 **Reviews!**

 **TheGreenRino: No comment on Hellcat. But I was on the fence about whether or not to at gun powered as antique or unknown so I used a coin and flipped for it.**

 **ThePeace and the War: No comment on ships I like the suspense, (Dr. Evil Laugh). As for advantages. Dust does give some advantages over the UNSC but not many. Remnant advantage one: Giant robots (Vol.6 enough said.) Two: Energy shields. They are capable of making shields that can block areas that give people time in conflict. Three: Dust. Dust can be used in ways that people in the UNSC cant predict which can get people killed on the battlefield. Remnant disadvantages, One: People. The people of Remnant number in the millions on one world Where the UNSC and UEG have hundreds with millions of troops. A prolong fight would not be best for the people of Remnant. UNSC advantage. One: Space ships. Space combat is an unknown concept to Remnant and are unprepared for it. Two: Armor penetration weapons. The UNSC had long developed ammunition that can punch through armor and Covenant shields and aura are no different. Three: Heavy ordnance. MAC cannons and nukes would be considered over kill and would force the people to summit to the might of the UNSC (Evil laugh)**

 **Guest 001: Thank you and stay tune.**

 **Soundwave7788: Thanks**


	12. Comming Clean

**Remnant, Beacon Academy**  
 **Student Armory, Room 2**  
 **October 3rd, 0922**

* * *

"Hmm..?" While sitting on a bench near my rocket locker, I hear the Locker Room door open.

Walking in I see the depressing form of Jaune Arc, leader of JNPR step in with his head hung low while dragging his feet along the ground looking sorry for himself.

I observed as he didn't react to my presence and slumped down on a nearby bench and cupped his hands over his face.

 _Wow…I haven't seen someone this down on themselves since the funeral for all those that fell on that 'Shield World._ I thought to myself.

My mind was on the fence on what to do. It was Friday and had planned on taking one of those easy mission assignments out into Vale and earn some Lien for myself. But seeing his blond battle buddy all down like this didn't sit right with him. That and also Jaune was one of the few guy friends he had here that didn't care if he had a tail, so there was that.

Gathering up my things and closing my locker, I walked over to the unsuspecting team leader set my hand on his shoulder. My action made Jaune jump from his spot before quickly; he turns to look at me before relaxing.

"Ruger? Brothers, you scared the bejeebers out of me. What are you doing here?" Jaune asked.

"I could say the same with the way you are looking right now. But to answer your question I was about to head out for a mission," I replied. Jaune looked at me with a surprised face.

"Missions? I thought first years like us don't go on any missions," he said.

"They do, but those are more for like 'town security' and 'search and destroy' kinds of missions. What I'm doing is more like something you'd see on a town assist roster. You know, do this and will pay you for doing it sort of thing. They got a board up in the school amphitheater for all the students with all of the info set up. I've been doing some of the odd jobs down in Vale on my Fridays after my shop class I've got. Things like helping firefighters at the stations, volunteering at homeless shelters and the such. I was going to do a simple one today, picking up trash and park cleaning. For those, they pay you by the pound and bags." I explained.

"Oh! That's neat..." Jaune said. But his tone sounded down. This set of a red flag in me that needed to investigate. Plan!

"Hey, why don't you come with me?"

'What?"

"Come on. You're sitting here by yourself looking like someone kick your puppy. It looks to me like you need to get out for a moment and do something productive. So why not come with and do just that while also earning a bit of cash on the side." My words seemed to raddle around his brain as I waited for a response. He nodded once before getting up. "Good, grab your sword, and we can go."

"My sword? I thought we were going to pick up trash. Why should I bring it?" Jaune said in confusion.

"From what I've read Hunters always have their weapons on hand when they are doing work. I see it as being accountable for your things while I'm off Campise. Plus we live in a world full of monsters that want nothing more than to eat our faces at the first chance," I joked. "Not taking the chance."

That made Jaune stop to think about my words. He nodded and opened his locker and grabbed his sword. We then left the Locker room and went towards the school's amphitheater. Neither one of us talked which was fine by me but felt something was off with the Blond. When we arrived, there were already a few teams at the boards looking at missions. I even spot Velvet with her team off at one of the holo-screens.

With how the school had everything set up, the holo-screens that displayed assignments were the least serious where on the far left of the room and as one would move down, the tasks and missions more and more dangerous.

Jaune and I made our way over to the less dangerous side and started scrolling through the jobs. Finding the post for the job in question, we waved our scrolls over it and got the location of the guy we're supposed to meet.

With that done, we soon exited Beacon and made it to the docks. Boarding the airship, we were on our way Vale.

Looking over at my company, I noted that Jaune had yet to speak about anything. In fact, the guy looked like someone insulted him and was getting to the guy. Classes must be getting to him. He was doing alright in the academic courses, such as wilderness survival and first aid, but was doing poorly in combat class and Dust studies. Huntsman are supposed to be able to handle themselves in a fight, and Jaune seems to be failing in that. I wonder.

"Hey, Jaune?" Breaking the knight's thoughts.

"Mmm...yeah?"

"Get ready we're about to land," I pointed out as we headed in for a landing. Jaune nodded to this as he got up from his spot as we waited quietly for the airship to land. As the ship landed, we departed from it and soon the docks in general. Pulling out my scroll for the directions, it was a good mile down the road from where we were at. Turning to that direction, I was meet with an interesting surprise.

UNSC recruitment posters.

"Cutter sure doesn't wast time. Must have gotten the go-ahead from the Vale Council," I thought out loud.

"What are you talking about?" Jaune asked me, realizing that I said that out loud.

I didn't answer right away as I was looking at the five posters on the wall. The first one was the standard UNSC recruitment poster, featuring the eagle over the planet with a banner with the letters 'UNSC' and a caption at the bottom with "Join us. Stop them." The next was a picture of a UNSC solder with an MA5B resting on his shoulder looking up. The words "Got a little Huntsman in yea?" and the bottom was the standard go to your nearest recruitment office and details of the UNSC. The last one had three Marines in varies positions of fire at a charging Ursa. I also noticed that one of the Marines had a dog tail showing that one was indeed a Faunus. At the bottom said, "United we stand." The next one showed three ODST's standing side by side, the words "Marine Corps, Join today. Fight for tomorrow." The last one showcased a Pelican, and it was sponsoring the Navy branch of the UNSC with the words "Holding the line!"

"UNSC? Who are those guys?" Jaune asked when he saw what I was seeing. "Hey, you have the same armor as them? Are you with these guy's?"

'Crap,' was my first thought. Jaune and his team don't know my connections with the UNSC. Well, neither does my team but they know at least I have ties with them due to my family being involved with them.

"My family was associated with them. I know the people in charge and are the ones that got me into Beacon." I told him. "They took care of me when I lost my family a while back and even gave me a few months of military training and this armor to help me get into Beacon."

"Wait, you didn't go to any of the combat schools?" Jaune said, shocked for whatever reason.

"Nope. Never set foot in any of them before in my life. My dad taught me how to shoot, but it was the UNSC that trained me to how I am now. After I'm done here at Beacon, I'll more than likely get offered into officer cadet program by them and officially join them."

"Wow...you've got it all figured out don't yea?"

"No...Not really," I denied.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"It's personal..."

"Oh, I get yea."

"No no no, it's what got me involved with them in the first place is personal," _and Classified to anyone on Remnant._ "It's my future that I'm unsure. I got a few unknowns that I got to deal with and not sure how to handle them yet. I don't have to deal with it now, but later on, I will need to address it."

"Well, hope you will be alright with it."

"Thanks, anyway let's get going." I waved off as we moved away from the posters.

As we walked that question did come back to me. If the Spirit of Fires crew does manage to make a working Slipspace engine working what would happen to me when we return to UNSC, My future would most more then likely be under a proverbial microscope under ONI. To what Professor Anders had me briefed about ONI; they do not know about Aura and told the ' _Office of Naval Intelligence_ ' does not like not knowing things. Anders even recounted me her story about how she got shanghighed into ONI due to her work evolving alien artifacts. With ONI not knowing what Aura and the Faunus too for that matter, they will want to know more about me even more so since I fit in both of those matters.

Shaking my head at these thoughts, they were for tomorrows problem and needed to think about the now. Looking back at Jaune his mood seemed a bit lighter than before but still had that dark cloud hanging above his head.

"Are you alright?" I asked. "I mean seriously you look like crap right now. Is there something bothering you, is Cardin getting to you again? I could make him, and his teams lives hell if that's-"

"Nononon, no it's okay. Cardin was just released later yesterday out of the infirmary, and I haven't run into any of them. It's...I-I, sigh, look I'll be fine, alright? I have a lot on my mind with some things I need to deal with." Jaune assured me. Or at least he tried, but I somehow knew he was lying to me. Seeing a nearby park that we were walking by I decided to intervene.

"Okay, come here." I grab the blond by his shirt and led to the open area.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Jaune protested.

"Shut up for a moment and get over here," I said before leading us to an empty park table and sat him on one end while I sat across from him. "Alright, spill buddy. Tell me what is going with you?" I finished as I looked at Jaune, making him withered a bit.

"I-I! Ruger its..." He stuttered as he tried to look away, but I tried my best to give my best Professor Anders look of " _I will get it my way_ " look that the Professor gives the Captain sometimes. That seemed to do it as Jaune seemed to collapse under my glare. "I...messed up..."

"Alright...what happened?" I asked slowly, keeping my voice down as I spoke.

"I had an argument with Pyrrha...and I said some things that I regretted." He said before looking at me. I kept an impassive face and made a motion with my hand to continue. "She wanted to help train me to fight, and I denied her help, but...I messed up and threw it back in her face." Jaune said as he couldn't keep his head up and look at me in anymore.

"Why did you do that? Pyrrha is your partner. Your friend."

"I know! But I don't want their help!" Jaune snapped. "I wanna do this by my self. To be the hero, to stand by others like Pyrrha and Ruby. Not be a burden and be stuck as a damsel that I need some girl to rescue me from my mistakes. All my life I have been told about how great the Warriors and Huntsman of my family. Stories and tails of their adventures and deeds in the great war from the battles they were in and in the heroics against the Grimm. I want that and show everyone that I have what it takes...even if I have to lie about it."

 _Well, this got interesting,_ "Lie?" I thought before inquiring. "Lie about what?" He didn't answer right away, but I think I had an idea about.

"My transcripts...I didn't train under anyone or go to any combat school. I facked them to get into Beacon." He confessed.

That...was rather ballsy, to be honest, I wasn't expecting that. I thought Jaune lied about the grades in his old school to sneak in. But to fake your whole transcripts to get into Beacon? That's something else entirely if he could do that by himself. This kind of put me on the fence, on the one hand, he lied his way into a school made for training the next generation of warriors. But on the other hand, Serina and Anders did forge my transcripts, so I would be labeling myself a hypocrite if I said anything negative about Jaune.

"Alright Jaune, let me get this straight. This is what you want, isn't it?" I asked. "To be here, to be a huntsman."

Yes," Jaune cried. "Yes, this is what I've always wanted; all I've ever wanted."

"Okay then, next question. How do you expect to fight the Grimm if you can't even fight for your dreams?"

My words were like a shot to the gut to him. "It's not that simple," Jaune said.

"Yes it is, it is that simple," I counter. "Ok so you lied your way in, now your ankle deep in this crap and now you want to get out. While doing so, you'll be abandoning Nora, Ren and most of all Pyrrah in the prosses in the worst way one can."

"No!" Jaune said looking horrified. "I'd never do that!"

"But you've already taken the first step. By rejecting your girlfriends help you've already taken the first step down the path of distractions." I pointed out.

"No! I'd never do that to...what did you call Pyrrah?" Jaune said as he seemed to do a double take.

"What you guys aren't going out?" I said in bewilderment while going off topic.

"Why would you say that? Pyrrah would never be interested in a guy like me." He said, sounding defeated in a sense.

"With all the looks of interest the redhead was giving you, I thought it was pretty straight forward."

"What are you talking about? I thought we were talking about me?!"

"We are but will talk about this later. What we are going to talk about is you, buddy." I dismissed. "What did you think about when you were planning on coming to Beacon? Did you think that hero school would just be teaching you how to rescue damsels?"

"Kinda," Jaune murmured.

"Jaune, when I watch you in class I thought you were in the same boat as Ruby was academically," I said as I shook my head at him.

"What does Ruby have to do with anything with me?" Jaune said curiously.

"I was using Ruby as an example. Hell, I could use myself for the same reason! I just didn't. Everyone on my team has problems that were working, some more than others," I replied, murmuring that last bit, but still had Juanes attention. "From what Ruby and her sister told me, she got into Beacon early due to some heroics that she took part of, stopped a dust store robbery I'm told. Osbin took noticed of it and allowed her in two years early. But because she got in early, she missed some important classes that she needed. Sure she does well in combat class and workshops, but she is struggling in classes like history and Dust manipulation."

"What about you?" Jaune asked.

"Me?"

"Yea you said you could use yourself as an example. Why is that?" He asked, and it was a fair question.

"Alright, well truthful my aura manipulation is downright pathetic compared to everyone else on my team, my CQC is extremely lacking as well, and I could barely follow the lessons Dr. Oobleck's class. I mean come what does that guy drink to make him move and talk like he does?! But yea I have my faults that I go to my teammates for help." I told him before listing off my things they do.

"Yang joins me in the mornings two or three times a week and helps me with fighting up close quarters, even if she punches me out of the ring a lot. I hang out with Ruby at the firing range and have fun shooting targets while improving my aim. I sit with Weiss to ask her things about Dust and do homework with. Blake is helping me to learn more about controlling my aura." I told the blonde before looking away to stare a group of people all laughing while they walked down the road.

"I was the only person on the team that didn't get a partner during initiation, so I consider every one of my team my partner. We stood by at each other's side in the beginning, and I don't want to be left behind while they do all the work." I gave Jaune a good hard look. "As I said before, I could accept that you're in the same boat as Ruby and me, but at least we're making an effort. So what else is it?" Jaune looked

"I didn't expect it to be this hard, okay?" Jaune said. "And then...I don't know. I can't explain it. I just...I just couldn't do it, you know? I'd try but...nothing would come. And eventually, there didn't seem to be any point to trying. And besides...I never expected that there would be this much in school, you know?"

I let a 'sigh' escape my lips, knowing how right about that Jaune was. "Point, but I can tell you're smarter than you look in some respects, but clearly not in others. You want to be the hero," I said. "Guess what? We all want to be the hero of our own story, and that's why we're here. No one becomes great for doing little. We have to work to be the hero. Want to leave behind a legacy like that of your forefathers, then you'll need to stop with the pity party and get with it."

"But-"

"No buts!" I interrupted. "Right now besides Pyrrha who else knows you faked your way in?"

"No one."

"Are you sure?" I insisted.

"Y-yes, we were on the roof when I told her about it," Jaune told me.

"Okay. Now, what you are going to do, not suggest, do. You are to go back to Pyrrha, and you are going to apologize for being an ass. You following me so far?" Jaune looked at me in confusion but nodded along. "Good, now the next thing that's going to happen is training because I am your friend and I want to help you out, you are going to wake with me up early at 5:30 every school day and work out with me." He gulped. "Finally you are going to take Pyrrha up on training you up along with my workout to get better."

"Okay...alright, I'll do it. Just don't tell anyone." Jaune pleaded.

'Hey! I'm not like that. You got yourself into this situation, and I'm going to help you along whether you like it or not. You are a Huntsman in training time to act like it. Oh and remember, Yang comes out with me too in the mornings so be prepared for a morning, butt whopping" Jaune gulped again as I finished.

"Now get your rear in gear, we still got a job to go do!" I then got up from my spot and dragged the blond out of his position as he begins to whine in protest.

* * *

"I can't believe how dirty that park was," Jaune said as we walked down the street.

"Right! Eighteen trash bags for fifty-five acres. What the hell is wrong with this city?" I said. After nearly three hours of picking up trash, we ended up with a whopping three hundred Lien for the total job of man-hours, the number of bags, and the weight of said bags.

Now we were making our way back to Beacon after a long days work. We took the money, and I split it between the two of us. Jaune accepted it and looked a little better, probably feeling like he must have accomplished something. I don't blame him for I felt the same.

It was then I spot a weapons shop to which I stopped at with interest. Weapons here were not like what they were in UEG space. I mean, pistol-swords, grenade launchers that turned into hammers, shotgun spears the list goes on here it's crazy.

The shop also sold Dust here which interested me too. After Weiss commented on how gunpowder on Remnant is antique, I did a little investigating into it.

This world does have gunpowder but is mostly used for demolition work and mining. Since Dust is so readily available in like eighty percent of the world, that's what most people go for now. And it's companies like the SDC that make the most profit for primary consumer demand that the whole world goes along. But in the end, gunpowder brings in a lot more force and penetration power. Plus it propels projectiles much faster then Dust rounds so that would give me and others like me in the UNSC an edge against others that do use Dust. Where's Dust gives more of a unique variety of shots, like fire and lighting, which is helpful in their ways. But I have seen the other students in Beacon track and actively block Dust bullets, I have yet to test my UNSC stander AP rounds against aura.

"What's up, Ruger?" Jaune asked.

"Aw nothing really, just interested in what they have here?" I said as I pointed to the shop. "Wanna go in? Maybe we can get you a gun that would fit you."

"But I already have a weapon," Jaune said as he grabbed the hilt of his sword.

"Bro, you are the only guy on your team that doesn't have a ranged weapon at all. If someone wanted to attack you from a distance, then they will be all over you. Besides, you don't have to decide on getting a gun or not now, but it would help you in the long run. Anyway, let's go."

Walking in I was a little taken back at what I saw. Swords, rifles, pistols axes and everything in between and more. The place had a feeling like I was/am walking into an armory and a blacksmith shop put together. In display cases held knives and handguns while on the walls hung rifles shotguns and swords. In the far corner held a bunch of tubes leading to the back containing what I had to assume to be Dust.

Looking over at Jaune he was over at a nearby wall rack looking a what I had to assume were a bunch of gun-swords. Some of them looked impressive even while others looked like they shouldn't be practical at all. Spotting a sign above of the weapons it sed they were all display only pieces, which means that they weigh and felt real but should not be used in a fight.

My eyes then were stuck on one gun-sword, it looked like an SMG with an extended blade under the barrel giving it a machete-like look.

 **BANG**

I was about to ask Jaune what he liked when some fired a shot into the air. My eyes flew towards the door as a man in a white jacket and bowler hat strode in, followed about a dozen or so Faunus in Grimm masks.

The White Fang.

"Pardon the interruption, ladies and gentlemen, but as I've always wanted to say: this is a stickup," the man in white announced jovially as he twirled his cane in one hand. "Stay calm, don't try anything stupid and everything will go smoothly, and you can go about your day."

It was then I turned to blond companion with a deadpan stare. "See, this is why you always bring weapons with you where ever you go." I said while I get ready to draw _Legacy_ from its holster.

 _Well if nothing else I may get to test out the AP rounds against Aura. Lets see how many it takes to get to the meaty center of this dirt bag._

* * *

 **I am evil due to leaving it at a cliffhanger.**

 **Reviews!**

 **dmandog056: I do love you Mad max/RWBY story and hope you get back to writing it. I love to see what you have next for that. Thanks for the review and I'll try to get better with more work.**

 **VGBlackwing: It's true and I hate it when someone uses it as a rush tactic. it is never fun.**


	13. Foiled

**Remnant, City of Vale**  
 **Oct 3, 0922**

* * *

 _The White Fang._

A peaceful protesting group focused on equal rights movement for worldwide turned terrorists. I remember them from both my studies of potential threats and Dr. Oobleck's history lesson a few days ago.

Stopping a robbery was not how I wanted to spend my Friday.

Jaune and I were behind a shelf out of view turning to the blond an idea hatched. "Jaune! Stay hidden, call for backup. I'll hold them as long as I can!" I whispered at Jaune not waiting for a reply I walked out into the open. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you and your compatriots to leave the premises," I announce myself.

It was then I had all eyes plus some guns pointed my way as I walked to the center of the store with my hands on my hips above Whisper and Legacy, although some of the White Fang members did lower their guns when they saw my tail. Bowler hat just looked at me while he held a smile. "Oh! I'm sorry, didn't see you there, who are you? You seem a little young to be a huntsman?" He taunted.

Well, go his attention now to get the others. "Well you're not wrong," I said as I unclipped my helmet and put it on. "I'm a soldier with he UNSC."

"UNSC?" Bowler hat said as he physically looked up in thought before snapping his fingers. "Aw right. That new upstart that private military that popped out of nowhere recently. You're with them?" He asked.

"I am," I replied with a nod. "Now can I get a name? Or should I keep thinking you as that guy with the nice hat?"

"What?! you don't know me?!" Bowler said in mock shock.

"I'm new to the neighborhood." That seemed to deflate him a bit before brightening him back up.

"Oh well can't be exclusively famous I suppose. Roman Torchwick is my name, and I'll be robbing this store today."

"Well, Mr. Torchwick. I am Ruger, solder with the UNSC and a huntsman in training. AND I can't allow you to do that." I replied with a smug on my face.

"Ha oh, you poor little Mutt." _Mutt?_ * **Twitch** *. "You talk as if you could do anything. But I'm wasting time with you, so goodbye." Torchwick said as he brought his cane up, with the bottom revealing that it was a gun.

'WAIT!" I screamed with both my hands raised. This action seemed to catch them all off guard. "I going to be blunt and say that is a very bad idea!"

"Oh? And why's that soldier boy," Torchwick snarked.

"I'll give you two hints. One its in the general direction of where your guns are pointing at and two: starts with the letter ' _D_.'" From my point of view, that made all the White Fang soldiers stop to look at what was behind me. If it wasn't for the dull looking masks that cover their eyes, I could swear that every eye widened in shock at what they were just about to do.

"You, store clerk," I pointed out that was behind the counter. "How much is Dust is directly behind me?"

The clerk, a short but wide man with no hair on his head, looked shocked at being but on the spot but answered regardless. "We-well there are the five tubs that can hold up to twenty kilos of Dust each that leads to a separate Dust storage containers in the back. Each container contains another hundred and fifty kilos each. To which are still full from the fresh shipment we got yesterday so there still full."

"Oh, shit..." I heard one of the Fang members said. More than likely making everyone else in the store think the same thing.

Ok, didn't expect there to be that much Dust, but if my math is right about this, then five tubs of twenty kilos plus five tanks each filled with one hundred and fifty kilos of Dust. Then you got "eight hundred and fifty kilos of Dust, more than enough to level at least two city blocks." I said, voicing my thoughts at the end.

With this revealed the Wight Fang soldiers looked nerves as some quickly lowered their guns. It kinda looked like they were rethinking their plan...if they even had one other then walk in grab the whatever they came here for and leave.

'BUT!" I said aloud getting their attention.

"I don't have such handy caps," I then pulled off _Buck_ off my back and pumped a shell in the chamber.

"Oh, you little punk!" Torchwick sneered as he glared at me.

"Now hear this member of the White Fang," I said with a series tone, letting my voice come out as clear as I can. "This is your one chance. Leave now and turn away from this path that leads to nothing but destruction and go do better in life or meet and greet your destiny against me." I finished.

I saw Torchwick roll his one visible eye at me but surprised that he kept as he turned to look at the White Fang soldiers. It was then a giant of a Faunus with a stylised, full-face mask decorated with crimson markings with a chainsaw in hand walked up in front of everyone.

 _Damn, this guy drinks his milk. He could look at one of the Spartans in the eye!_ Was my thought when I looked at the guy.

"Do not relent brothers and sisters," the giant said in a rough and sharp tone. "What we have in front of us is a traitor that stands against his kind that we must bring down this UNSC and-"

"Okay big guy I'm going to have to cut you off right there," I said cutting off the start of some monolog of some crusade of justice. Did not want to hear that as it was way too similar to a particular group that wanted to wipe humanity off the face of the galaxy. "First off, you got that on backward. It's not I who are the traitors it is you." Pointing at them. "I was given the opportunity to be something more than myself when I was adopted into the UNSC after the death of my family at the hands of individual like you. They gave me a home and a future. Unlike you White Fang and those Council of idiots that run the kingdoms the UNSC don't prejudice to the Faunus we are above stupid things such as racism. We judge those on their skills and character rather than looks. Don't believe me then go to the recruiting office here in Vale. Question them, and they will give you the blunt truth of this world."

"Okay tough guy then tell us, what is the truth about the world?" Tourchwick mocked, an amused look on his face.

"Well that's not an easy answer, and we would more than likely spend all night talking about it."

"Then what was the point of all this talk?"

"I was to turn away some of you from committing to a life of crime, but I was also wondering how quick Vale's police force is in getting here," I said with a ball drop.

That got the reaction I was hoping for as every single one of the Fang soldiers to either flinch or freeze up. The site alone made me let out a shout of laughter before ducking out of the way when the big guy swings his big chainsaw at me, whirling menacingly in his hand.

The guy's arms were thick due to how his muscles seemed to bulge. I fired once into his leg making him recoil away. A wordless growl rumbled out from behind the mask of the chainsaw warrior as he swung horizontally at me with his purring weapon. Falling back and rolling away allowed me to get in a crouching posting for another shot into his gut, but saw that most of _Buck_ 's buckshot blocked by the giant's chainsaw. He then reared up and sent a heavy punch at me. I was going to roll out of the way but stopped another White Fang pushed me from behind allowing the big guys punch to connect against my chest. I felt my chest armor absorbed the giant's punch, but it still put me on my ass while knocking the wind out of me. I then felt a pressure suddenly build up around my neck. Looking up I saw the chainsaw bodybuilder lift me up off the ground before throwing me.

A sudden feeling weightlessness and a stomach full of butterflies took hold of me as I was flung away from where I was. I impacted something made of glass breaking away on impact before landing on something harder. Blinking out the blurriness I saw that was no longer in the weapons shop put out in the street.

Sending a command through my neural implant to my HUD I brought up my health readout. I saw that it was down to about a tenth where it should have been almost gone. _Guess aura is good for something._

I then saw the rest of the White Fang leaving the storefront. Feeling that _Buck_ was no longer in my hands, I reached down and pulled out _Legacy_ and started letting a stream of silent bullets into the group coming out, taking three of them down in the opening salvo. That was when they began firing back as I took cover behind a nearby car. I also found their fire was wild and inaccurate, amateurs. Others closed in around me with an assortment of swords and knives in hand. Seeing this I switched out for _Whisper_ and put two Fang fighters down with a double tap of fire.

I couldn't tell if these guys had their aura unlocked and up or not with how fast I was taking these guys down. So far other than the big guy and maybe the suit wearing guy no one else had an aura. I pushed down those thoughts as I went to pistol whip a Deer Faunus with a machete.

My hit landed against the deer's hand that held the bladed weapon while it was in mid-swing. The Fang soldier gave out a short shout of pain before I followed up with another one to the head, knocking him back before putting a bullet in his leg. Putting him out of action.

Hearing a shout of panic, I turn just in time to see Jaune fly out of another storefront window, breaking the second one tonight. The blond landed and slid next to me.

"Hey Ruger," the blond greeted.

"Jaune. Couldn't wait to join in could yea," I greeted back while Jaune got steadily back on his feet.

"Didn't want you having...all the fun," Jaune remarked. "Big one found me after he threw you out, took out the shelf I was behind."

"Did you at least let the teams know what's happening?" I said as several fang soldiers spread out to surround us. Forcing the two of us back to back.

"Yeah, I got in contact with Ruby and Ren. They should be here soon," Jaune replied as he drew his sword.

'Welp, I hope they don't take too long to get here. Cause I don't think we will last long with these odds," I said as I watch the dozen of White Fang soldiers surround us. Along with the big chainsaw wielding guy and Roman. It was then I heard the sound of jet engines in the air. Looking up I see the sight of two Bullhead VETOs flying towards us. "Guess we aren't going to have to wait long after all."

But hope was fleeting when the sight of their more White Fang jumping out of them. Now their numbers had doubled as they took aim at the two of us.

"Well, shit," I cursed as I took in the situation around us.

"Umm...Ruger, what do we do?" Jaune said fearfully.

Hearing the fear of his voice had got my mind going at a hundred miles an hour. Any idea that came to me was gone in a moment as I took it all in. I wordlessly reloaded _Whisper_ and _Legacy_ with fresh clips. With that, I raise _Whisper_ with my left, _Legacy_ in my right and pointed them at the nearest Fang members. "Survive."

"Oh don't be so melodramatic," Roman smirked as he pointed his cane at us like a gun. To which I realized it was a gun as the bottom popped off producing a crosshair. Before we could react, he fired off a red flare that was more the likely infused with Dust.

The flare impacted the ground in front of Jaune and me. I felt once again lifted off, sending me over the fang soldiers before crashing hard on my back, knocking the wind out of me again.

"Ow * _cough_ * I better be getting danger pay for this assignment." I murmured as I took in my surroundings. I then saw several Fangs close in on me, raising _Legacy_ I went to work and zeroed on the closest attacker.

The SMG rounds connected and dropped him like a puppet that had its strings cut, then started doing a sweep in front of me, holding down the trigger as put Legacy full auto, taking multiple targets. Some needed more than one bullet to take down to their aura. Whether or not they were dead or not mattered little as I'm sure few would miss a bunch of terrorists.

One Fang soldier wordlessly shouted as he came from above with a sword swipe.

Backstepping out of the way, the solder did multiple at me showing that he had some skill with a sword as he tried desperately to slice me up. Raising my arms up in a boxers stance his sword collided with my gauntlets. Cutting them nearly all the way through!

Jumping back I now had a good look at the guy in front of me and could tell this one was different. His clothing was black and sleek, tall and broad-shouldered, with hair of burnished red and an innately stylised mask right under two black bull horns. He also carried a long red blade in his hands as he slowly sheath it for a quick draw attack. Taking a quick moment, it reminded me a bit of the Samurai with the way he held his stance.

His entire being just screamed ' _I'm important._ '

"Don't think we've met," I said as I leveled Whisper up at him, "I'm Ruger."

"And I don't care. Your death will be at my hands for killing my comrades," the masked man said before charging at me with the intent to kill.

"Sorry if I don't feel pity for terrorist that want to make the rest of the Faunus look bad," I replied as I sighted him in.

Seeing him charge I fire _Whisper_ multiple times at the guy. Only for him to either block them with his sword or avoid them entirely. As he got in close, I slung _Legacy_ and drew my combat knife to block the incoming slash of his blade.

' _Damn I'm nowhere near prepared to fight this guy or for this level of close combat!_ ' I mentally panicked as diverted away another slash from this guy. Red's sword was sharp if the cuts in my armored gauntlets were anything to show. I needed to either end this or get away. After two more slashes from Red's sword, I put _Whisper_ away and drew the only flashbang I had on me and tossed it at his feet.

Fun fact, Faunus have better eyesight and hearing than humans. So when you have a concussion or flashbang grenade go off in front of them without any protection from either, then it's going to turn out to be a bad day.

Red saw the flash bag and jumped back, but made the mistake, along with a few other Fang soldiers, of looking at the grenade when it went off.

They all flinched back as if physically hurt. Those with two sets of ears dropped their weapons and grabbed them while the others ripped off their masks and did the same with their eyes.

Before anyone could retaliate, Roman Torchwick made himself known again by launching another red flare at me. Putting more distance between us.

It was then I caught sight of Jaune once more. He had his sword out and was fighting off two of Fang soldiers in close combat. He was actually holding his own but not making any progress in taking them out, more like slash, swish, block sort of thing against them. But overall he was doing ok.

Tuning back to Red's direction I saw that Roman had walked up beside Red with the chainsaw giant.

Jaune than made his appearance by my side, huffing and out of breath. Didn't blame him, this was more than likely his first real fight outside of combat class other than Grimm as we stood off against the store robbers.

In that moment that a new face appeared. One that threw me off as I got a real good look at ' _her_.'

She wore a whitetail jacket with pink interior, brown pants, and white boots that had a lot of black buttons going down to there heels. Her most striking feature was her hair and eyes as one side was pink and the other brown.

"Neo! Perfect timing as always," Torchwick said to the new girl before facing me. "Well, hero love to stay and have more fun. But we best be off. Neo?"

Neo looked at me and gave me a small smirk. As she looked like she knew something that I didn't sort of way.

That was was when something weird happened.

It first came from Neo, then surrounded everything in front of her and those around her, like a transparent blanket was draped in front of them. Then it got really wired when everyone seemed to be split in two, where they all left shadows of themselves from their spots. Farther ahead a Bullhead touch downed and making a getaway as they climbed in. This brought me out of my stupor.

"Hey!" I shouted before I lifting _Legacy_ and sending multiple rounds at them, this also broke some sort of illusion as the copies her all seemed to break down like shattered glass. But it was for nothing as they flew away at high speeds. "Damn it they got away!"

"Oh it's over," Jaune said as his shoulders slump.

"Jaune! Ruger!"

Looking behind us we see the rest of teams JNPR, and RRWBY runs up to us with their weapons out.

"Are we too late to miss the butt whopping?!" Yang said as she looked around the battered area.

"You just missed them," Jaune answered.

"No! I wanted to break some legs!" Nora wined before crying on Ren's shoulder. I rolled my eyes at that unseen under my mask.

"Yeah, you missed it, criminals and crazy people with grenade launching walking canes and huge chainsaws. We partied so hard that threw the two of us out of the store," I pointed at Jaune and me before inclining my head to the weapons shop.

"Grenade launching walking cane?" Ruby amused before a look of realization took hold. "Torchwick was here?!"

"You know that guy?" I asked my team leader to which she nodded. "How?"

"I fought him off before school started. Me fighting him and his wimpy thugs got the attention of Ozpin and allowed me to attend Beacon early." She explained.

"Well, he and some other of top players joined in on the fight. Jaune here held his own against a few thugs." I thumbed over to the blond.

"What? No, you did all the work, Ruger. I just called for help." Jaune dismissed. Off to the side, I saw Phyrra looking intently at her team leader in silence. Her face filled with concern.

"Hey, you are the one that called for help. I'm the one that had to delay those guys till the cops arrive." Then I noticed something. "Speaking of the Police, where the hell are they?"

Speak of the Devil, that was when I heard the sound of sirens coming from nearby. Out from around the corner came several police cruisers. "Great now they show up?!"

"Vale's best at their finest," Yang commented, making Ruby and Nora giggle and Ren and Weiss shake their heads.

Before anyone could say anything else. I was suddenly tackled by two officers and put into handcuffs and stipped me of my weapons.

"Whoa! Whoa! What are you going?!" Ruby yelled at them.

"Taking this Fuanuas into custody," one of the cops said.

"WHAT?!" We all screamed.

"Why are you arresting me?! I was trying to stop the thieves."

"Save it till we're down at the station," another cop said as he and another police officer dragged me and threw me into that back of a nearby cruiser. While this went on my team and team JNPR protested against this. Blake, Yang, and Nora were the most vocal about it. While I was just dumbstruck at what was happening.

Before anything else was said, the door closed on me and was speeding down the road with red and blue lights blaring.

"What the fuck just happened?" I said finally.

* * *

 ** _That's right that happened readers. Ruger now has a record and the Vale Police force is just as dumb as they look. This shows how more of the racial side of the show against the Faunus and now our little ONI operative will get a taste of what that is like._**


	14. This is not what I had in mind

**Remnant, City of Vale**  
 **Vale Police Precinct 3**  
 **Oct 3, 0922**

* * *

 _These two have got to be the worse detectives I have ever meet._

For the last hour have been handcuffed and questioned repeatedly on and off by the two let's be cops about my ' _friends_ ' in the White Fang. Things like " _Where are they?!_ " Or " _We can protect you if you tell us this._ " And " _Where's the Dust?!_ " For crying out loud, these guys didn't know how to do a proper interrogation.

With my dad being an officer back in the capital on Arcadia, I got to meet many Detectives and Police Officers regularly. With how hard Dad worked most days I usually spent some afternoons at his office and hung out with a bunch of his co-workers. I even walked in on interrogations and observed how police integrate people while watching behind one-way mirrors.

Now those were proper interrogations. These guys are as pathetic as those identical fuzzy caterpillars they call mustaches the two of them sprouted.

They had just left me after their third attempt, if you could call it that, at breaking me. I couldn't show the two idiots my student I.D. on my scroll due to it having been crushed during my tussle with the big guy with the chainsaw. While also I couldn't contact the UNSC due to my TAC/COM on my grave being sliced in two by that guy with red hair, which was also the reason why I still have a hand at the end of our duel. The officers also confiscated Whisper and Legacy along with my armor plates and helmet. Leaving me with only my bodysuit and boots. I could only hope that my team at Beacon will come to my rescue.

* _Sigh_ *"This is not what I had in mind when I decided to attend Beacon Academy," I said to no one.

Another minute of silence went by before I heard the door to my interrogation room open, and walked in the two cops along with the sight of several friendly faces.

"Ruger!"Yelled my team leader as ran up and hugged me. "I was so worried that they would take you away and toss you in the slammer!"

"I'm fine Ruby, "I reassured her. "I'd hug you back, but I'm a little tied up at the moment." Looking at the others, Weiss looked indifferent at being here with her uncaring posture and Blake seemed a bit nerves at being here. With her hiding her Faunus feature I can understand. The two also were holding boxes containing my armor and weapons as well.

"Don't worry we'll get those taken off," Yang said before looking at me with an evil gleam in her eye that I did not like. "Or we can take you back as is and have a little fun."

I face heat up from how she worded that. "Don't make this weird, Yang."

"Sis, what are you talking about?" Ruby asked her older sister.

 _Oh, you sweet innocent girl._

"I'll tell you when your older sis," Yang teased.

"YANG!" The little reaper whined.

"Could you two be quiet for a moment while the rest of us try to focus on getting our fifth team member out of here!" Weiss said in her snippy tone."It's bad enough that the police falsely accuse Ruger of robbery when he was trying to stop them in the first place.

The Ice queen then sent a glare over at me. But I could tell it was half-hearted. "What you did was reckless, you should know better than this! But your actions were commendable in stopping the White Fang, and for that, you have earned some respect from me."

That sent me a bit over the edge as I looked at my white hair teammate with slightly widened eyes. From day one of meeting her, we haven't really gotten together on a personal level other than to help each other with homework and studying. She'd offend complains about how I shouldn't bother wearing armor when I'm in combat and to get some Dust made rounds instead of the stuff the UNSC gives me. As if. So this was a bit of a surprise.

"Wow Weiss that was probably the nicest thing I've heard you say!" Yang said.

"Oh hush you!"

 _And there the Ice Queen we all know and love._

It was then that one of the cops that falsely arrested me when up and took my cuffs off. "About time," I muttered before turning to the cops. "You know my father was an Officer of the law as well? Seeing what I've seen from you guys was not only a disgrace of those who wear the badge but of also a disregard of regulations due to the actions you pulled against me. From there I have it in my full authority to take you to your board and detail of the protocols you've ignored, not reading me my rights as while I was being falsely arrested, and mishandling of my wronged incarceration."I listed off. "All three of these violations of police protocol are warranted to remove of service with the council taking your badges.

Oh yeah before I forget! Just because I'm a Faunus doesn't mean I work for a damn terrorist organization! That right there is Racial profiling, which is also illegal in many courts and can also put you or any officer on probation."

When I was finished, the eyes of the cops were wide with panic while all four of the girls looked at me with wide eyes. Yang and Ruby looked at me with eyes filled with awe. Weiss looked at me with a look of surprise. Blake was the same as Weiss as she looked at me in shock surprise, but I also noticed her face was getting red as well. One of the cops seemed to snap out of it as he gave me a look.

"Like you would know anything about what happened, it would be your word against ours, and the council would more than believe our world against some wanna be Huntsman." The dumb cop said.

I couldn't help but give them a deadpan look as I felt the heat of anger come off the girls behind me. But I also couldn't help but feet a smile forming up my face. "Actually," I said getting everyone's attention, "it would be your word against your word." I then went over and picked up my ODST helmet.

"What are you doing with that?" The cop asked.

"You see this here? It has a camera installed on the side." I pointed out. "This is a helmet that belongs to the UNSC which I am affiliated with, they all have these in all their helmets. So that after a mission they can feed data to the officers in command, give videos for briefings and provide investigators with information regarding their deaths. But in this case, providing evidence on racist cops." This had the desired effect of making the two cops piss themselves.

"As amusing as it is to see my students provided corrections to officers of the law," said a new voice in the room, making us all turn around to the new voice. "I do believe it is time for us to return to Beacon?"

"Headmaster/Professor Ozpin?!" Team RRWBY said in surprise.

There stood behind them was Headmaster Ozpin in his usual attire and a cup of coffee in hand along with miss Goodwitch right behind him.

"Hello, students," The Headmaster greeted back. "It is good to see you all are alright and unharmed. Mr. Tyler, I'm saddened to hear that you and Mr. Arc were caught in an attempted robbery, but also proud that the two of you took it upon yourselves to beat back the robbers and defend those that could not in the shop. Delaying them till your respected teams could reach you. That demonstrates that the two of you hold the potential to more great things in your future careers as Huntsman."

"Thank you, Headmaster," I said but couldn't help but smile sheepishly.

"Anyway, best be off now and not linger around. The weekend is still young, and there is plenty of time to do your homework before your next class." This made all the girls, mainly Ruby and Yang, groan in annoyance.

"Also, Miss Rose?"

"Yes?"

"After you and your team is settled back at Beacon, have yourself, and Mr. Tyler here come to my office. There are a few things I'd like to discuss with, nothing serious but I will elaborate once the two of you are there." He then left along with Miss Goodwitch. Leaving most of us in bewilderment at the short and to the point, discussion.

His visit was short and to the point. I couldn't help but feel like I was about to walk into something I am not going to like.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Beacon Tower**

"So what do you think he wants?" I asked my red-headed leader.

We had just returned together to Beacon, and we had dropped our things in our dorm room. The others were also worried about what was going to happen next.

"I'm not sure. I don't know Professor Ozpin to well outside of school. He probably wants to know more about the robbery you foiled? Or perhaps ask you who trained you the way you are right now?" answered Ruby.

"Who trained me?" I asked in confusion. Ruby nodded. "Why would he asked me that?"

"Well...when I first met him it was after I stopped Torchwick, he asked about where I learned to fight with a scythe and told him that my uncle taught me. He asked me a few more questions then asked if I knew who he was. I did know about him, and he asked if I wanted to come to his school? I said yes, and he allowed it!" Ruby said happily.

"Really? That actually happened?" I said in bewilderment.

"Yep!" She replied.

It was then they had reached the top of Beacon tower. When the elevator doors opened up to us, I took in everything the room had to offer. It was definitely something I would not expect to be the head office of a school.

The Headmaster office was sprawling, but at the same time mostly empty. Old twentieth-century clockwork gears ground remorselessly overhead, casting a constantly shifting shadow down upon the floor below.

Professor Ozpin sat enthroned in an enormous chair, behind a sizeable crescent-shaped desk. Professor Goodwitch stood at his right, her expression forever stern.

As we walked forward a few paces, a kind of instinct, honed by experience with the UNSC, told me when to stop, clasping my hands behind my back.

Professor Ozpin was silent from the moment we walked in. The only sounds were the grinding of the gears and the trickling of liquid as Ozpin poured himself a cup of coffee from a ceramic teapot. Then he took a small drink. From my side I could hear the slight gained of Ruby's boot on the ground, probably making the redhead nerves as the silence was getting to her.

"Well, Mister Tyler. I'd say you've had quite the day today, wouldn't you agree?" Ozpin finally said.

"I would think that would be an understatement, sir," I replied. "But with respect and for the record, it was by accident that started it all up."

"Is that so?" Professor Goodwitch asked, speaking for the first time in an arch tone.

"Yes, mam."

"It's not like he wanted to encounter Torchwick and the White Fang, Professor," Ruby said as she tried to defend me.

"For the record, we were in the dust shop before the White Fang arrived," I defended. "We did not throw the first punch."

Professor Ozpin took another sip of his coffee. "Then you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"That seems to be something of a habit with you, Miss Rose," Professor Goodwitch murmured. "I do hope you are not spreading your influence around to your teammates."

"That seems to be a bit unfair in my eyes professor, but in the end, we denied the White Fang and Tourchwick with what they wanted. I call that a success."

"Call it whatever you want Mister Tyler, we already are going to have to keep a close eye on you already as is!" Goodwhitch snapped at me, making Ruby letting a small "squeak!" I may have done the same, but her word gave meaning that struck a chord within me.

"What do you mean ' _already_ ' Miss Goodwitch? You've been watching me?" I asked the professor.

"She means Mr. Tyler, that your weapons and armor boars a resemblance to the new addition of the VDF, the 'United, nations, security, command' or UNSC? To the Vale council and the world, they are a new growing powerhouse. Having possessed knowledge and technology that has never before seen in any of the kingdoms. The council of Vale to which I am a member of agreed to their terms and allowed their recruiting office to train soldiers to support our Kingdoms Huntsman in Grimm clearing and set up additional defenses for Vale and many of the settlements outside the city." Ozpin explained.

If the UNSC is anything, they sure know how to get things done quickly, and with the Cutter and Anders spearheading it then things are bound to move quickly as if they were in combat back on the shield world. They did on that, and things are bound to get done.

The headmaster took another sip. "I'm assuming that you are affiliated with them, yes?" I nodded. "But I have to wonder, after reviewing the footage of the robbery, what is your intentions are at my school?"

Ozpin pushed a few buttons on his desk, and a holo-screen appear in front of us. It played the moment I was thrown out the storefront window and drew my SMG. What followed made Ruby gasp in horror as it showed me gunning several White Fang soldiers that were charging at me. Those that didn't have aura were easy to spot as they went down after taking one or two bullets and sure signs of their blood being splattered. It only took me a moment to form a response to the video.

"Headmaster, all I see is myself defending against many assailants that were using lethal force against me to which I returned in kind."

Professor Goodwhitch did not look amused. "Is that all you have to say for your actions tonight?"

"Professor, what kind of answer were you expecting?!" I shot back. "I did my hardest to delay them before the first swing was given. Giving the Teams and the police enough time to get to us? In the end, it was just us, back to back, two against many. Several of being skilled and were actively trying to kill us!" I shouted as that last bit while bringing up my gauntlets, showing off the deep cut that would have removed my head if I wasn't quick enough.

"Calm down Ruger, I understand that you were put in a situation where you had little control to work with. There are times where a Huntsmen is put in these situations sometime in their career and may have to do the undesired things that come with the job, dealing with death and taking a life."

"I understand this Headmaster," I said.

"Do you now?" Replied Ozpin with a raised eyebrow.

"Your right on the account that I have ties with the UNSC. They are the ones that prepared and trained me before coming here. One of the things they drilled in me is how to deal with death and how to push through it." I explained.

"I see...thank you for answering my questions. Now there is another reason I wanted to talk to you about and its why Miss Rose is here as well." The headmaster said before taking another sip of his coffee. This made my team leader, and I glance at each other in confusion before looking back at the Headmaster as he continued. "You see since the UNSC has surfaced they have been getting a lot of mix reactions from both the council and the people. I have been in contact with Captain Cutter recently and have been discussing many things these last few days."

I tried not to show any reaction to that but couldn't help but feel the hairs on the back of my neck stick up. I also felt my tail stick out straight. The Headmaster of Beacon has been talking with the Captain? This didn't sound right, I would have been informed that the Captain had been taking with the Headmaster. Then again my next radio check-in is not for another two days. So when I do get in contact, I'll have to ask about this. I then noticed a small gleam of something in his eyes that I did not like.

"One of the things I'm interested in is the way they are going about their training regiment. Turning a civilian into a soldier in a hundred and twenty-eight days is just mind-boggling. Atlas military takes nearly a year or more on their soldiers. Many are unconvinced of this method, but I see it as an opportunity of sorts." He explained.

Ruby looked a little uncertain about this, and I did not know what to think either. "Headmaster, what is this about? Why us?" She asked.

"Some want the UNSC to fail in their efforts in protecting settlements outside the city, others want to believe in them but require proof. I told Captain Cutter about this, and he proposed an idea.

"What's the idea?"

"That I said one or two of my teams for one of their training cycles, and since Ruger is affiliated with them, I proposed that team RRWBY will be the ones that go."

I felt a glass wall shatter behind me, "WHAT?!" Both Ruby and me yelled in unison.

"Behave yourselves, students." Goodwitch snapped again. "I to do not agree with this but the decision has already been made."

"You leave in the following Monday of next week to board a dropship I believe they call a Pelican to the training grounds where you will be folded into their newest batch of recruits. All five of you will be representing Beacon Academy to the UNSC." Ozpin further explained. "After you finish training and school courses missed this semester here will not be counted against you, and instead you will be able to take the classes with you while you are away if you so desire."

 _If we're going we will be too tired or too busy to do any assignments Beacon gives us._ '

"Talking from experience Headmaster, I doubt that very much," I said my two credits.

"While you are away, this will also be team RRWBY's first official mission." That got Ruby's attention.

"Mission?!" Ruby said with some excitement.

"Yes, and due to the nature of it and what it enthralls your team to do, it will be considered a long term joint training exercise. You all will be graded on your performance and evaluated on what your progress, but you will also be doing the same for them." Ozpin informed.

"if nothing else, then I will let the two of you go. You have to catch up your teammates on this new development, also take these," Professor Ozpin pulled out five packets of envelops. "I was told that these forms that the UNSC provided me wanted you all to fill in. Things like personal information like allergies and next of kin." Ruby walks over and picks them up.

"Well then that is all I wanted to inform you," Professor Ozpin said. "If your teammates have any questions then feel free to let me know, and I will talk to them individually or separate."

Ruby bowed her head. "Thank you, Professor."

We then without another word went back into the elevator. As the doors closed on and we descended. I felt like this mission just got a lot harder.

"Ruger?"

"Yes, Ruby."

"What did we just get ourselves into?" She asked.

"Team RRWBY just got drafted."

"Oh...that's bad right?" She asked me.

I then looked back at her with a slightly fearful face. "Ruby, you might want to go buy yourself a tombstone." This made her panic.

"W-why?" she asked fearfully.

"Because you will more than likely be burying what innocence you have on life when we're done with phase one of Boot camp," I responded.

 _And god help whoever they send against Yang with a set of clippers._

* * *

 _A new chapter so soon? AND with a sudden twist at the end?! I know none of you saw this coming._

 _Yes Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang will get a taste of what UNSC Army boot taste like._

 _I know there is probably more then a few of you that are going to disagree with me on this sudden change but I mentioned earlier a while back that I'll be doing a few things differently._

 _And for some of you thinking I am copying SHIPWRECK-5897's awesome story "The Remnant Campaign" then no I am not. I had this idea before I read his latest chapter and when he gets up the next chapter for his story than its more than likely going to be vary different. His team RWBY are more than likely going to face Marine Boot camp, mine will be enduring Army boot camp._

For all of you readers that don't haven't been in the military think they are the same then go head slap yourselves.

THERE. IS. A. DIFERENCE!

Reviews!

GreenTheRyno: Thank you for your input, I really wasn't thinking about that honestly.

SPRA Sentinel: The UNSC dosn't take kind to others when one of their own is falsely accused of something due to race.

clog: I know the whole fuck the police deal. I get that some days.


	15. I hate tree sap

_Note: There are some readers wondering why team RWBY going to the UNSC Army and not Marines or whats the difference is? Here it is, The UNSC Army is a branch of the primarily responsible for land-based military operations. They launch offensive operations from land bases against land-based targets and are used in capturing and establishing control over UNSC-held territory. The UNSC Army frequently patrols colony planets and has served as assault troops aboard UNSC Navy starships. On Remnant this would make more since in securing places for the long run. That's what I believe the people would want against the Grimm._

 _The UNSC Marines are based off the USA Marines. They are a quick reaction force that move light and hit heavy in any environment and against any threat. They are effective to a degree against the Grimm and Covenant same with army too, but they were not meant to stay in one place for long pierids of time. This hampers them from being used to their fullest degree._

 _While also UNSC Marines take more time in training then the UNSC Army dose. If I sent RWBY to be trained by the Marines then they would miss the Vytal Festival and we would all like to see what happens there._

 _I ended up rewriting this chapter like four times. I was going to send the girls straight to basic but decided to do more before than enjoy._

 _Also some of you may have noticed the change I made from T to M. That is for the harsh language that will be appearing in future chapters._

* * *

 **Remnant,** **_Forever Fall Forest_**

 _ **Oct 6, 0922**_

Groaning, I felt my breath slowly enter through my lips, but as it did, a painful flare erupted in the back of my head, and as soon as the pain was more then noticeable, other areas began to hurt. My head was spinning slightly, even with my eyes being closed. The last thing I remembered was the huge bear Grimm chasing me to a cliff and blacking out. That and how it all came to that.

"Team CRDL is now and forever more on my permanent shit list," I said while lying on the bank of the river I just swam out of. I had just fought off my first Ursa, and I was reaping the aftermath.

Looking down through the cracked visor of my helmet, I saw I once again thankful of the insulated suit, keeping me dry once again on the inside. My chest plate now had battle damage as evident to the three substantial claw marks that grind across it. Sand clung to me due to me being in the water along with the residual sap that has not been washed off. Legacy was still where I left her on my leg, and Whisper was still clenched in my hand, but I couldn't feel weight of Buck on my back. Then I remembered why which made me pissed off at that.

Sitting up to where I hunched over slightly, I picked off my helmet and began examining over it. The first thing I noticed was how cracked the faceplate showed but still wasn't enough to compromise the helmet integrity. It also had a new addition with more claw marks over the right side just over where the cracks to my visor originated.

As for myself in general, I felt drop dead tired. It wasn't a new experience by any means due to how much my life has change sense stepping foot on the _Spirit of Fire_. My aura and armor had helped protected me for the impacts but still felt them when they connected. I have to admit, that without my new found aura, I would probably be in a lot more pain than I already was. Possibly even have a few broken bones.

I then got up and began my track back to Beacon while also thinking on how I allowed this all to happened.

* **Flashback one hour** *

"Yes, students," said our resident teacher and chaperone, Professor Goodwitch. "The Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

"lovely," I muttered under my breath.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of sap," Goodwitch counties while holding up a jar full as an example. "However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun!" She finished before walking away.

"Well, let's get this over with," Yang said in an off-hand tone with the other girls of our team following behind them. I could only look at them in slight pity as I trailed in from behind. It had been two days seance the team was told that they would be sent to the UNSC army camp for the remainder of the semester and return during the winter break. It wasn't something any of them liked, especially from the silent Blake and the ever loudmouth Weiss. Blake kept mostly quiet about it all but did state her feeling a bit on at the start. Weiss gave her usual petty rich girl attitude about the subject. Thought with I did throw her off her game when I mentioned a few things to her and the others and that left me alone from them for a time. Since then, they individually asked me questions in private on what to expect and gave them the truth. They were less than pleased.

Ruby wasn't allowed to bring her weapon with them. Weiss was going to have to wear uniforms that she did not want to wear. Yang was going to have to tie her hair up and keep it in check. Blake was the worse as she will have to stop wearing her bow, which will reveal herself to the others that she was a Faunus too which she was not ready to admit to them yet.

Pushing those thoughts aside, we then started on the sap collection adventure. After walking past a few trees, the team settled at a few bigger ones that looked healthy, I guess. I couldn't tell due to all the trees held red leaves. In an artistic way, they were very beautiful as it could paint the scenery or be used in a set for some movie if one got the camera angle right for the right setting.

I separated a bit from my team for my own tree to harvest sap from. Finding a good size tree, I planted my spike in it and placed the jar I was given under it and watched the sap slowly drip in it. Feeling a bit curious, I stuck my pinkie finger out at the little and caught a bit of it. Lifting my helmet to revealing my mouth, I slipped my pinkie in. I had to admit the taste wasn't entirely what I was expecting. I tasted a bit of the wood to which is what I was expecting initially, what I wasn't expecting was the mild vanilla taste that reminds me of Root Beer if it was sappy that is. But what then threw me off was how sweet the after taste was.

"Mmm...not bad. I can see some people liking this."

I adjusted my jar accordingly on the ground sot the spit would leak right into it. With that done, I took a step back and sat on the ground next to another tree and rest.

As I sat, I listened to my surroundings. The wind was gently hitting the trees, causing them to shake their leaves. The sound of birds chirping in the distance. The speech of my classmates talking nearby as they collect their jars of sap.

It had been a long time since I had just sat down and smelled the roses as it were. With my home destroyed and not knowing if my dad was alive or dead. Joining the crew of the Spirit of Fire in their adventure through space to rescue an ONI scientist from the Covenant. Our encounter with the parasite that will fill my nightmares for years to come. Then came fighting the Covenant inside a hollowed out planet. Destroying said planet and float adrift through space for years without a means of FTL.

Now to top it everything off, we're stuck on this new world for the time being that houses two different species that utilize an extraordinary power called 'aura.' And to top that one of the rases here are humans like I was and the other called the Faunus, which is what I am now. All due to having one of my teammates turn my aura on for me.

Now it's not all bad, despite my new doggy tail that I have tucked in my undersuit. It's all not that bad, I do like the heightened senses and natural night vision, so there are some pluses…

"Oh wow I didn't I would be going over my life when I sat down, " I muttered in confusion. "Need to get my head on straight; let's see how that sap poring was going." Looking at my jar, I could see that it was almost full to the brim. "That should do it."

I twisted the spike out to cut off the flow of sap and sat a lid over my jar and held it up to eye level. "Well that was-"

*SMASH!*

"What the flying fuck was that?!"

Whatever hit me forced me to jerk and trip on a tree root. Staying put for a moment allowed me to get my bearings and wait for the pain of what hit me to subside. Looking up I saw something slimy stick to my visor, wiping it off I saw that it was pieces of glass and red sap. Someone just threw a couple of jars of sap at me.

Looking around for the culprit, I counted some of the teams that were near us.

"Hey, Ruger."

I turned to the voice of the culprit and found Cardin Winchester waiting by a nearby tree, holding a box in his hand. He also had a shit eating grin that most would punch on general principle.

"Got something for yea,' He said before tossing the box at my feet. Spilling whatever it had in it.

For a moment, there was nothing. Then an angry buzzing noise sounded, and a small swarm of angry looking red wasps rose and hover in front of me. And I could feel their little eyes on me. My animal or possibly my Faunas instincts were telling me to run for it. Sure I was wearing a full insulated suit rated for vacuum environments, but I didn't want to test it against these bugs and their oversize but stingers.

"Fuck this, shit!" I said before, sprinting away from the red cloud of death.

My feet hit the ground running as it were away from the angry swarm. From the angry buzzing, I could tell they were hot on my heels as I tried to lose them in the trees. When I couldn't hear the buzzing anymore, I stopped and looked at my surroundings. I must have run a good hundred meters away from my team to get away from those things.

As I waited for the adrenalin to go down, I realized what those things were, rapier wasps. I remember just last week during Profesor Port's class about examples of environmental dangers one would come across during a Grimm hunt. Due to their bug-like nature, they must have been attracted to the sap that covered me. Then there is the sap itself: Cardin, that bastard. When I get back to Beacon, I'm going to make him regret pulling a stunt like this. If it was anyone else, then they could have been seriously hurt.

My thoughts of vengeance were cut off when the buzzing of the wasps returned. I needed to find a stream of something to wash this sap off, or I'm going to be trailing these things all the way back to civilization.

I turn to run again, stop, and became face to face with an Ursa.

"There is no way my luck is that bad," I deadpanned.

As the Grimm took in my presence, it stood on his hind legs, revealing it's twelve-foot hight to me.

"God damn it."

The Ursa growled at me before swinging one of its massive claws at me, rolling over to the side, dodging its claws. It was then the wasps showed up.

"Fuck my life," I said as I watch the wasps collide with the Ursa. The oversize Grimm roar as I could only assume that the wasps had stung it a few time, pissing it off even more. It then ignored the wasps and turned to me. Before I could react, it clawed at me again and slashed at my chest. The hit had lifted me off my feet and came crashing down.

'When is where I ever get in a fight, I somehow get tossed in the air?' I thought as picked myself off the ground. Having enough of being tossed in the air, I drew Buck from my back and lined up a shot before firing.

Buck kicked back like usual and sent the 8-gage pelts impacted the Grimm's head. The head flew back like it was just punched. When it looked back at me, I could see the damage I did as a few specks of blood rolled off its face. And it looked pissed.

Not wanting to gain ground, I went to pump Buck. Only for it to get stuck. Panic filled my gut as I looked down to see what was wrong. Misfires and blockages were almost unheard of on UNSC weapons unless it was due to lack of maintenance or broken parts.

All I saw was tree sap.

The tree sap from Cardin's jars had gunked up and blocked the ejection cover and had solidified over it, preventing me from ejecting spent shells.

A growl brought me back to the fight as I watched a pissed off Ursa charge at me and sent me flying in the air again hit my back against a nearby tree. It also made me lose my grip over Buck, making lose site of my shotgun. Not that it mattered seeing that it wouldn't have done me any good in this fight. Grabbing Legacy, I raised her to the snarling and let loose a single bullet that hit the Grimm in the black underbelly, making it roar in pain before the weapon jammed.

Panicking on the inside, I looked down as saw the same tree sap covering ejection port cover on top with a bullet casing sticking out jamming the cycling mechanism. Fury filled my veins.

"Winchester," I muttered darkly. "If I get out of this alive, I'm so going to make you regret coming to Beacon."

With that said, the Ursa charged at me with unrelenting anger. Before it could hit me, I rolled again to avoid the incoming attack and hit the tree behind me. Holstering Legacy and drawing Whisper, I examined it and felt relieved to see that it was clean of tree sap.

With new found confidence, I raised my pistol and fired at it towards the bear Grimm. I made sure to aim for the center of mass as I wanted to do as much damage as I can and avoid the bone armor. Even getting multiple hits, the bullets only staggered it a bit before it turned towards me.

Brandishing my knife as it got closer, I ducked under a claw slid the blade into the Grimms chest cavity, right between two ribs and started to twist. My action made the Grimm roar in pain as he tried to reach for me with its claws. Pulling out my knife, I used my aura to jump back to avoid any damage. Looking at the damage, I caused was minimal. With only Whisper and a standard combat knife to work with, I wasn't going to get very far in this fight without coming up with a plan.

I looked towards a thick tree line then at the Ursa as it prepared to charge at me again. Not seeing a way to win this retreating without any support or heavy ordnance I thought of best running is the best option at this point.

Not giving it a second thought, I broke for the thick brush with the big Ursa on my tail. I could feel the ground shaking behind me. I could probably use it as an evasive maneuver when the time came, which was a choice I would rather have. Running and weaving through the trees, I stole a glance back and saw its heads hit a tree where I had been a moment before.

Feeling a nervous smile come to me as I now picked up the pace, I looked back forward and felt my heart nearly stop…

Whatever deity is watching over me, fuck you so fucking much!

There was a loud roaring sound from behind me, and I took another glance behind me and saw the soulless beast struggling to get past the trees.

And right there in front of me was a cliff overlooking a river. Looking downward, I saw that I was a good three stories high at least over the water. Before the I could think of a plan, I hear the Ursa roar behind me before blacking out as pain hit me.

Sending commands through my neural implant, I cycled through all the systems in my armor. Through it, I found that my radio receiver was broken and half my HUD's displays weren't coming on. There was also my VISOR that became mostly static when I turned it on which was most disappointing. Seeing that my armor wasn't going to help me here, I turned to the next best thing.

Reaching into my equipment pocket, I pulled out my scroll and flipped it open. On the home screen, I saw the time was close to five PM and that I had over a dozen calls and messages from my team. Pulling out my contacts, I dialed in my team leaders number. I only had to wait a few seconds before I see the image of the mini red reaper looking no worse for wear.

"RUGER!" Ruby cried. "What happened? Where are you?! You disappeared and found Buck crushed!"

"Bit of a story Ruby, I'll tell you everything when we meet up. Can you put the Professor on?" I asked.

"I am already here, Mr. Tyler." The screen shifted from Ruby to the emotionless combat Profesor. "And from what I'm looking at right now, you've must have had an interesting story to tell." She said more than likely commenting on my appearance. "We are in the Bullheads and in the air now looking for you, what is your location?"

"Down by the river heading upstream at-" I stop to the sound of growling near me. I couldn't see what was in it, as the bushes and trees blocked most of the view past them. Using the X2 zoom enhancer on my helmet on the treeline, I spotted a few Beowolfs appear through and looked at me. "...crap."

"Mr, Tyler? What is happening?"

"Grimm," I replied as more showed up. making it look like a whole pack "A lot of Grimm to which I am not armed enough to handle. Popping smoke to mark my location, hurry!" I called before the getting pounce by the nearest wolf before I could do the thing. The action also made me drop my scroll in the sand. Ignoring the panicking voices from it, I focused on the thing that was pinning me.

I tried to look over and look at the Beowolf that had me pinned, but I couldn't maneuver my body in that way. There was a sound of growling was all around me, and for a second, I thought it might have been Covenant Grunts... but a Grunt can't take down a human by itself that easily, nor run that fast.

Crunch.

Now the Grimm was holding me down to the ground seemed to try and bite my arm, but through the plating, I felt nothing worth noting other than the dog slobber that would be cleaning later. Not wanting to be in this position any longer, so with a little bit of strength and aura, I rolled myself over and was rewarded with another sound of snarling as whatever was on me jumped away. Looking around, I could only feel my situation being worse. So with that, I pulled my smoke grenade and tossed it, releasing a green smoke into the air.

With that done, I drew my knife in my right hand and my pistol in the other — no need to face a pack of Grimm with just my hands.

Now standing alone in front of a bunch of black daemons that looked like 22nd Disney created for a backward b-movie Tim Burton horror film knock off might seem like a bad idea to be in... and you be right.

With a cry, I charged forward to the nearest Beowulf and buried my knife in its chest before firing two shots into it before firing a third in the head at the next one that was standing next to the first. Jumping back with a raised pistol, I started firing at approaching wolves, and I made sure to aim for center mass to get as much damage as I can with the 12.7x40mm rounds. Two wolves got hit multiple times and dropped dead instantly with the others getting closer.

Brandishing my knife as the next one got closer, I ducked and slashed the blade at the Grimm's through would be and it seemingly fell to the ground dead. With that one gone, I was then swarmed by the rest of the pack of wolves; all were trying to some way or another to harm me.

All attempts were futile.

Stabbing another in the gut, I lost track of which one it was as they seemed to all want to have a turn chewing on me. Looking over and seeing that my hand with my pistol was viscously gnawed at, I tried to pull it away, only to feel a sharp pain in the wrist. "AGH! You little bitch!"

Bringing my knife arm up, I tried to swat at the offending beast, only to suddenly find it being bitten by two other Beowolfs, and that was when I saw a painfully horrible sight; they were dragging me towards the forest away from my smoke.

Snapping my head back above me as the teeth of one wrapped over the edge of my visor, I felt ready to hurl as somehow; its breath made its way into my suits system. It was a foul stench, and it was probably one of the only things that could compete with the foul odor that came from the parasite!

Jerking my legs under the body of the Grimm atop me, I kicked out with as much force as I could, but even after it was off of me, another replaced where it had just been. No matter what I did more seemed to come at me from everywhere. My stress levels were at an all-time high right now as I fired the last round from Whisper into another Beowolf. Swiping my blade across the Grimm that covered my face, I was allowed to see what was in front of me. Without another word, I reloaded Whisper and tried to clear my way back to the water.

Keeping low to the ground as I brandished my knife in front of me again to keep the Grimm back. I was starting to get tired of trying to hold off them off and to stop them surrounding me again.

Slashing at another one when it got to close I began to wonder if the others are even looking more smoke signal!

Reloading my pistol again I was now down to three mags, and I hope I wasn't going to have to finish this with just my fists. At least they aren't nearly as bad as the parasites...

Nearly.

Reaching the river bank, I ran right to the edge before turning to my pursuers. Looking at them, I watch them all gathered in front of me. Their teeth brandished as the growled and snarled at me. But none approached or attacked me yet.

Come on... make an attack already. What are you waiting for?

Feeling something suddenly go amiss, I head the sound of engines. Looking towards its direction, I see a Bullhead come around the bank, but it was at that moment that the entire pack of wolves jumped me.

Falling down as the mass amount of weight began to weigh me down; I snapped a punch into the muzzle of whichever wolf was closest, while feeling the serrated edge of my blade slice through fur and hide, only to be caught on the ribcage of a wolf with the jagged edges.

"Ruger!"

Growling as I kicked out, I managed to get a Beowolf from making an attempt at my waist, but that only let the other Beowolf holding onto my shoulder shift its bite to my elbow, and pull sharply. It did nothing more than make my joint sore, but as it dragged me across the ground, it seemed the others had a truly fantastic idea. They all began to yank my body in separate directions. If they could chew me out, they were going to pull me apart like a pot roast.

* **POP** *

"AHH!" I screamed as I felt my right shoulder be pulled out of its socket.

A gunshot from a distinctive high impact sniper rifle went off, making the Grimm above me explode in a gory fashion.

Looking up at the direction of the shot couldn't help but feel waves of relief fill my body as the rest of my team dops in and takes on the pack causing them to disperse and separate themselves from me.

Yang went down hard on with her fists as firing slugs of red Dust making explosions wherever she went. Weiss thrust her sword with position into her enemies and using her Glyphs to remove and repulse any that came from her sides.

The Beowolfs above me were struck as Ruby and Blake appeared near me and sending the Grimm back to oblivion with a series of slashes. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder my chance to be back in this fight, I pushed up on my feet and started firing at the nearest Grimm.

"Ruger! You alright?" Blake said as she seemingly appeared at my side.

"I am now that you all are here," I replied as I tried to change mags which was harder to do with one hand. "You arrived just in time. Thought that was it for me."

"Girls! Get your teammate on the Bullhead!" I hear Profesor Good which ordered.

"Blake, get Ruger to the Bullhead will cover you!" Called out before going back to the fight. Not seeing a problem with that, I let Blake grab my non-injured arm and leads me away to the transport while ever covers our extraction. Looking over at the Bullhead, I see Professor Goodwitch using a riding clop of all things to bash away any Grimm that got near the Bullhead, and it was working.

I am not even going to question it at this point.

Walking up the ramp. Blake set me down on one of the seats. It was then the rest of the girls piled in as the transport before pulling out. A wave of relief hit me as we flew through the air. I just wanted to rest sleep for the rest of the day. But it wasn't meant to be as I felt my helmet be pulled off and felt everyone's eyes were on me.

"Hey, stay with us, guy. Don't go clocking out on us," Yang said as she and the other looked at me with concerned eyes.

"Yeah! You were with us for one moment and then gone. What hat happened?" Comment her little sister.

"That seems to be the question of the day, Miss Rose. Mr. Tyler do you have an answer?" Professor Goodwitch said as she looked at the young team leader before looking at me.

Thinking a moment on how I can best describe what happened a good thought came to mind.

"May I see your Scroll, Professor?" I asked the teacher and getting a raised eyebrow in return wanting to know an explanation. "I have a camera that recorded the whole event. I going to send you the whole file and you can look through the whole thing while we return to Beacon. Trust me, you will get a kick out of what you will see." I said as I wave Yang to return my helmet. Within a few minutes of sending a couple of mental commands from my implant to transfer the video files over to Goodwitch's Scroll.

Under my visor a held a smile of satisfaction as I handed the Profesor back her Scroll and began watching the footage of when Cardin throwing those jars of sap and released the wasps. There was no way in hell he'll be expecting what was coming to him.


	16. After Acton Crazyness

**Arcadia, Pirth City**

 **City Outskirts**

 **February 9th, 2531(UNSC date)**

* * *

"The Covenant are right on our ass; keep moving!" Yelled the Sargent that maned the turret on the Warthog.

I ran alongside Sgt Irwin, and the other Marines Covent Banshees flew over our heads. Raining death and plasma on us. I had just learned that the Covenant just overran the Starport and the all the evac shuttles were either destroyed or had just left. More than likely, my father was now dead since I couldn't see him among the marines I was running alongside, fearing for my life.

Traveling down the road, the tank that was rolling with us fired its machine gun at some of the flyers that passed above us. Hitting a few but not downing any. The Spartans, on the other hand.

A red beam of light lit up the area followed but the crash of another Banshee. They didn't have any problems.

"And another one bites the dust!" Called out a Marines.

"Can it Carmine!" Sgt. Irwin ordered.

I then heard the Scorpion tank fire a shell fire at a group of Covenant that was in front of our group. Between the tank and the three Spartans, they were quickly taken care of as a barrage of heavy machine gun fire, tank shells and rockets cleared the way for everyone. It wasn't long after passing several wrecked cars, and a crashed Pelican at the edge of a large impact crater.

Inside said crater held a Wraith tank and a half a dozen squads of Covenants and a pair of hunters.

"Clear the enemy out of this crater!" Sargent Forged ordered as he began firing his Guess turret at a nearby Elite. I followed behind Sgt. Irwin and fired my dad's SMG at some nearby grunts, taking two down with a few bursts. Another shot from the Scorpion sent the Wraith up in a fiery blue blaze.

"Stay back, kid," came a deep voice from behind.

Looking behind me, I couldn't help but take a step as one of the three Spartans heft up a multi-barrel rocket launcher over his shoulder and launched a pair of rockets at the hunter pair, obliterating the two worm hives.

"Whoa..." I couldn't help say in awe as I looked at the carnage displayed in front of me.

"Kid keep your head down!" I felt a hand pull me back as a few globs of green plasma fly bast were I was a moment ago. The same hand pushed me down as two Marines stood up and fired their assault rifles as everyone continued to clear the crater.

I got but still hid in cover as I watch the battle unfold on itself. After another few minutes of constant fighting, the last Covenant solder went down in a hail of gunfire. Looking around, I saw multiple bodies of dead Covenant and UNSC Marines littered the ground.

Nearby I hear one of the radios go off and heard Sgt Forge's over it followed by two more unknown voices. "We only have a little time to prep the base for the Covenant attacks, let's get to it."

" _We're dropping a Command Center in that crater for you, preparing Omega Team now._ " Said a young female voice over the radio.

" _Other UNSC units have been notified, and are retreating to your position_." Said an older male's voice.

It was then the site of a D20 Herons along with a couple of Pelican dropships and other ships I didn't recognize, carrying its payload down to the inside of the crater. The Herons then dropped its payload, and I watched a mobile base fold itself out with a landing pad on top and a high door drop in front. Then the Pelicans started to drop their loads right next to the big firebase, now turning the dirt-ridden crater into a functioning base in two minutes flat. Complete with a reactor, two supply pad, and several other things.

It was amazing.

"Alright, defensive positions till we can get everything ready." Forge orders everyone. The tank rolls up and positions itself by a down Pelican while the Marines and Spartans take cover behind the scattered wreckage. Seeing nothing else, I went over and joined Sgt Irwin and his team. Whelp, I'm already stranded here, and the ships have already left, seeing there was nothing left to do but to stick with these guys.

"Hey kid what are you doing here?" Asked a Marine that I didn't know.

"Staying where it safe, by you guys," I replied. Before the Marine could reply Forge calls out over the radio.

"The Covenant are building structures to the north of our base. Everyone defensive positions here they come!" He called out.

We all looked back in the direction where we came from and felt dread come fill me up. Several squads of Covenant troops with several purple hovercraft I did not recognize floated towards us.

"We got Ghosts incoming. If you got rockets, use them!" Forge ordered from the back of his hug.

A couple of pairs of rockets flew in response, destroying the enemy vehicles and several of their soldiers. The enemy soldiers returned in kind as plasma flew in every direction. I hunkered down behind my cover as several shots pelt the area around me and the Marines, the screams of men getting hit ring in my ears. I gritted my teeth in fear and rage.

I was not going to die here.

Holding my dad's M7, I rose and began to fire back at several grunts that got close. Before I could continue a heavy hand gripped my solder and forced me down. Just as several streams of plasma. Looking at the owner of the hand, It was another Spartan, the one with a colossal chaingun. I became surprised when a woman's voice came from the Spartan.

"Watch your surroundings kid, can't have you being cooked a moment noticed!" The Spartan said before bringing up her chaingun and started firing at the incoming Covenant. Not wanting to be left out, I shot the remaining rounds from the M7 before switching to my M6 and shooting at more bad aliens. In a matter of a few minutes, the Covenant attack force had been repelled.

I laid back against the bare walls of the crashed Pelican we took cover in, my mind racing over what I just participated. The adrenalin that rushed in me was now starting to wear off and felt the embrace of sleep threatens to overtake me. Shaking it off, I focused on anything to distract me. It was then I saw a Pelican fly in and dropped a Cobra and two squads of Marines. I watched as armor unit travel over to the side and set itself up in a defensive position overlooking the line.

" _Scans indicate that Covenant are building a large plasma weapon._ " Said the woman's voice over the radio.

When she said that, several globs of purple plasma rained down and hit the base, destroying one of the supply pads that were dropped earlier.

"Covenant Mega Turret. We've got to take it out somehow!" Forge said in reply.

I then watched as two of the Spartans, the one with the big Lazer and rocket launcher direct the Marines that just flew along with Forges Warthog. Together they ran down a nearby slope. As the minutes ticked by, I could hear the sound of explosions and gunfire in the distance. In the end, I saw a bright purple appear right under the overpass me, and the Marines I've met were at earlier.

" _The Mega Turret is down, good work._ " Forge reported over the radio.

"Hey!" I hear a voice. Turning to the source, I see Srg. Irwin was standing over me. "You doing alright kid?"

"Little overwhelmed with how my day is going," I replied.

The Sergeant nodded in understanding. "Yeah, it has been one of those days. But the days not over yet. Keep your head on a swivel and be on a lookout. You aren't one of my men, but you've still helped us out, and I want to make sure you get out of here in one piece."

"Yeah...but I don't know where I'm going to go after this. My whole life was here in Arcadia. I don't know if my dad was able to board any of the evac shuttles before they left. He could either still be out there fighting still or..."

"Yeah," the Marine said solemnly. I could only imagine that I wasn't the first person to say that to him. With all that is happening, I could believe that.

Before any more words were exchanged, another Pelican dropped and unloaded a big surprise. I felt my jaw drop at the sight of more Spartans appearing in front of us. There were six in total, plus the three that were already with us made nine. All armed to the teeth as I watch the three do some hand jester across their visors that I didn't understand that to the newcomers before recovering a new supplement of ammo. Soon more Marines and tanks had formed in some attack formation and moved past our fighting line with the nine Spartans at the front of it. From the back of his Warthog, I heard Sgt. Forge gives out his orders.

"Let's see what these Spartans can do, push the Covenant back!" Forge called out.

I silently joined in behind the group with my SMG out and ready. As one they moved forward with bullets and shells blowing all the Covenant away and continuing with the overwhelming firepower of the tanks they made quick and good progress towards the enemy base. A couple more warthogs joined up with the group as they continued to fight on against heavy resistance, after another fifteen minutes of intense fighting they finally reached their destination.

When I first saw the base, the Covenant made I was a little put off by what I saw. All the building were in a shiny royal purple that reflected the sunlight. I quickly deduced that Covenant architecture was just plain weird to me. The remaining tanks soon lined up and pointed their barrels at the structure and started firing. Explosive shells rained on the exotic buildings, bringing them down one at a time. Purple and blue explosions erupted from the fire, and soon a chain reaction of exploding plasma rocked the structures taking it all down. Marines cheered as the alien structure burned away. Weapons raised high as several bullets flew at the destroyed buildings.

With the Covenant gone from the area, I felt a strong need to lay down and sleep away this nightmare of a day.

* * *

 **Renment, Beacon Academy**

 **School infirmary**

 **Oct 5, 0922 (Renment date)**

* * *

"Ok on three...1...* **POP** *

"AHG! What the hell happened to two?!" I cried out as the school doctor un-dislocated my shoulder. Looking over at the girls they had seen this and flinched at the pop Ruby more so than the others.

"Better to not expect it then expects it. Hurts worse when you least expect it." The Doctor replied with a straight face, but the funny look in his eyes says otherwise.

I sat unarmored and in my under clothing with on the bed while the Doc worked on me. We had just been back at Beacon from our little trip to the woods for the last half hour and were making sure everyone was alright. Sadly not everyone was so lucky.

As the Doctor was finishing up setting a sling for my arm, I glanced over at my roommate that I'm sharing.

Pyrrha from JNPR and she looked terrible.

She got hit with the tree sap and Rapier wasps from Cardin like me. Only she didn't see who did it and wasn't wearing a full body suit that protected her from their stingers. From her face to along her arms and legs that exposed her skin showed welts that had revealed the same color as her red hair. Overall it did not look desirable to be the champion fighter as the school Nurse rub some kind of oil like substance on Pyrrha's exposed skin.

The rest of team JNPR were there with her all with different levels of anger. It was not long after I told my team as well as JNPR about what happened to me and showed them the clip from my helmet cam. To say Jaune was mad would be a monumental understatement. No, he was pissed that Cardin had attacked his partner in such a way for no reason and had a murderous gleam in his eye.

The other two members of JNPR were no different. Nora, the girl that revealed Ruby and Yang with bright smiles, turned upside down with a snarl that could make the marines back on the Spirit uneasy if they were near her. For Ren, for as long as I've known the guy hasn't shown many facial expressions. Even now, his face was blank, but one look in his eyes showed a different story as he too wasn't pleased with the situation.

My team was just as happy as they were when I informed them. Yang looked ready to bust some heads. Weiss looked like she needed to stab someone with her sword. Ruby had her scythe out and ready to go beat down Cardin and his team for pulling such a stunt with Yang in support. The two sisters were only stopped due to a few stern words from Professor Goodwitch.

Blake, I couldn't get an accurate read on. Sometimes she had given me looks of worry, others, when she learned how all this happen, made her angry. Ever since she and the girls picked me up from the river, she hasn't left my side.

"So does anyone have any ideas what happened to CRDL?" I asked the two gathered teams. Ren was the one that answered.

"I saw them when we landed at the docks. A few minutes later several of the teaching staff and security cam and escorted them into Beacon tower. I assume Professor Ozpin is having is saying a few words to them." Ren explained.

"That's putting it pretty mildly," Weiss responded. Ren didn't react as Weiss continued. "But this is a series matter and no doubt the Headmaster is going to get involved. Attacking not one but two fellow students on two other teams unprovoked that led to such outcomes are grounds for expulsion." That relieved some tension in the room. Jaune and Ruby looked a little relaxed at that.

"The only question I have now is that will it only be Cardin getting expelled or his whole team?" This made everyone think as Weiss continues.

"The expulsion of a whole team of first years would gain more attention than just a team leader."

"But team CRDL wasn't a very liked team, and I doubt anyone would miss them considering what they did," Yang interjected.

Weiss nodded at this. "Quite."

"Well, I'm just glad to be nearly done with today," I said as I twist my neck and receiving a sure pop out from it. "Because of what Cardin did when he threw that jar of tree sap at me prevented me from defending myself from those Grimm. Hell, I got tossed around like a rag doll by that Ursa!"

"Not to mention you looked like a chew toy by the time we found you," Yang commented as she reached down and picked up my helmet. Showing off the damage and making everyone flinch at seeing it.

"That is some impressive armor you have Ruger. How did you come by it?" Pyrrha asked.

"Looking to get yourself a set?" I asked back.

"After today, I'm considering it."

"Ha, I don't blame you. I might be able to hook you up. I'm going to make a few calls' to my supplier anyway about getting a new set to replace this one."

"Mmm..." I herd Weiss hummed. As I looked over at her, she had my forearm protector in her hands. I wasn't the only one who notices this.

"Something wrong, Weiss?" Ruby asked her partner.

"I always thought that armor was pointless when we have our aura to help us in combat. Huntsman really ever use as most are too bulky to wear and slows them down. Having most prefer to rely on their own speed and power when fighting and falling back on their aura for protection." She explains as she rolls the forearmed guard in her hand. Pyrrha nodded to this.

"There are few who do wear such armor but they are far and few, having spent years training their bodies to withstand the weight they burden themselves with," Pyrrha explained. I nodded in agreement with her.

"That is true. I spent weeks at a time wearing heavy armor so that I could get used to the weight to the point it acted like a second skin to me some days."I confirmed.

"There's also your weapons," Yang said before turning to her sister. Ruby looked sadden before she pulled her backpack off that she had on the entire time. She then pulled out several gun pieces on my bed that looked like they would go to a shotgun before it hit me as I recognize the parts.

"You've got to be kidding me?" I said in disbelief at the remains of _Buck_.

"We found him like this. He so much potential in life!" Ruby said before crying. With Nora there to grab onto and support and cry with. I shook my head at their antics as I took in the poor shape of the M45.

It looked like when I lost my grip on it during the fight with the Ursa, it stepped on it when it left. The bent and warped out of shape. Its main body was cracked open. Both the gun barrel and magazine tobe were never going to be straight again. But I did notice that the buttstock, trigger mechanism, and the pump cycling system looked intact and could be reused.

But overall, it was junk.

"Crap," I muttered." I like that shotgun."

"Me too," Yang said.

"So much for _Buck_ ," Jaune commented.

"He will be missed!" Nora cried out with Ruby crying still.

"Why do you guys think it was alive in the first place?" Weiss said in irritation.

"You kidding me?" I said as I looked at the fencer. "I stop questioning their antics after the first day of school."

"Are you going to replace it?" Blake questioned.

"Oh, we can build you a new one!" Ruby said with excitement. This made me stare at the red reaper with a raised eyebrow.

"Build a new one?"

"Sure! The school has a forge for all the students to maintain and work on their weapons. All combat schools have them, including a fabricator to help students build new ones. If you have the gun schematics for Buck, we can rebuild him or make a new version of him altogether! We can add a transformation mechanism on it to add a melee feature!" Ruby said with a squeal of excitement. I saw this made everyone smile or eye-roll at the young huntress in training as she started listing all the possible things they could do. The idea wasn't a bad one.

"We will do that later," Blake said, cutting any future conversation before turning to me. "It has been a long day. Right now, you need some rest. Let's go back to the dorms and call it a night."

"Agreed," said Weiss. "Especially for the five of us." she point at me and the girls. This confused team JNPR as they looked at us. The reason is we haven't told them.

"Wait, what's going on?" Jaune asked the question that was on his team's minds. It was Ruby that answered him.

"Professor Ozpin gave us our first mission. Next week, team RRWBY will be going out next week."

"WHAT?!" Nore screamed in shock. She then ran up, grabbed Ruby, and started shaking her dizzy. "Why do you guys get to do all the fun stuff?!" She asked as she shook the girl harder by the second before being dragged away by Ren.

"We didn't pick it was picked for us," Weiss said in slight irritation of being reminded of it.

"We're being sent by Ozpin and the Vale council to the UNSC's training base to test their training regiment." I cut and informed them. "The five of us will be going in at the start of one of their training cycles and be trained by instructors on how to be soldiers."

"We evaluate their method of training and send weekly reports back to Ozpin about what we learn." Blake finished.

"And not all of us are happy about it," Yang commented as she looked between the Ice Queen and hidden catgirl of the group.

"Anyway!" Ruby shouted, gaining her team's attention. "Let's head to bed guys," she finished before waving her team to follower out to which we leave the other first-year team behind.

Leaving the school infirmary, it didn't take us long reach our assigned dorm room. From there, the girls split off, and each did their own thing. Weiss went over to her desk with a scowl on her face as she began to write something down. Ruby looked unsure about herself and went and hopped up on her bed and just laid there. Yang followed her sister's example and went to her bed but pulled out her scroll and did stuff on it.

Blake...was inclining her head at me to the side, meaning she wanted to talk. Following her, we ended up back on the roof towards a secluded corner of the roof.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked my teammate. This made Blake scoff at my remark.

"I should be the one asking that to you that. You did take on a pack of Beowolf's by yourself and nearly became a dog's chew toy."

"Kind of ironic fate consider since I'm a dog Faunus. Still, have no clew how that's possible by the way." I joked.

Blake shook her head, but I did see a hint of a smile on her face. After that, she looked at me with a series face. "I want to talk to you about the Dust store robbery."

This made me curious. So far, only Blake had yet to speak to me about the robbery. So far the other girls had asked about what went down leaving only Blake being silent. Yang wanted to know how I took down the bad guys, Weiss too but more refined as she scowled me on proper form.

Ruby talked to me about how I could deal with taking a life...I didn't have a proper answer for her.

"What about the robbery?" I asked.

"Is it true?" she demanded.

"You are going to have to be a little more specific, Blake." I clarified.

"Is it true?" Blake repeated, as though repetition would bring the necessary clarity. "Is it true that Roman Torchwick and the White Fang were working together to rob that dust shop."

"It was Torchwick," I replied. "Ruby I.D the guy. Apparently, our leader faced off against him during one of his robbers and stopped to it before the semester started. It is how Ruby gained Ozpin's interest and allowed her into Beacon two years early."

"And you're sure that it was the White Fang?"

"They wore gray Grimm masks and had the White Fang markings on their clothing." Blake scowled at my answer. I felt a red flag go up in my mind as I stared at her. There were signs that my father pointed out when we sat down and watched criminal investigation shows, like "Section two ONI." When someone goes to clarify on people or groups, they are usually searching for something or someone. A few questions then started to pop up.

"What's your interest in the White Fang?" I asked. She looked away, not meeting my eyes. "Blake?" No answer, so I stared and waited. After a minute of silence, I asked another question.

"Blake...is this the reason why you wear a bow?" This made Blake hung her head down to a point where a dark shadow seemed to pass over her face. I then saw her shoulders shake, hands clenched jaw tightened shut. Overall it was clear to me that she has a history with them.

Good or bad, I don't know and this point I cared a lot for her my friends. They had started to grow on me, and I don't want to lose them.

"Blake..." I stated in a firm voice, breaking her attention, but also looking like she was about to bolt at a moments notice. "Look at me."

Slowly but surely she did, and when I saw her eyes, I felt like I could write a tragedy story off it. They told me of a history filled with a wounded heart, pain that has been brewing on the inside that. With no way of releasing it, it festered.

"You trusted me with your secret that you are a Faunus, that wanted people to see you for who you were rather than what you are. You are the one that has helped me with my aura and dealt with my transformation into being a Faunus. If you have something in the past that hurts you and are not willing to share with me or the others, then I'm ok with that." My words seemed to strike at her.

"What?!" Blake said. Shocked by my words. "Why? Why would you say that?"

"Because they are your secrets, Blake. If you don't want to tell then that's fine, just don't leave us out of it if its too much to bear yourself."

Blake looked at me before she closed her eyes. She stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "Do…do you know why the White Fang wear masks?"

The question she asked caught me a little off guard as to the importance of what were discussing but stayed with her. "No."

"Because so many humans think that the Faunus are monsters, they decided to become the monsters of their fears," Blake explained.

"A little dark I would say," I commented at the bit of info I would file away on my White Fang report later.

"So was the man that started it."

"What a lovely bunch. I can see why you left." My words seemed to like a slap to the face for Blake as she looked up at me in fear.

"H-how?" She said fearfully. Looking like she was ready to bolt at a moments notice.

"The way you spoke about them brought a few hints, but the way you looked just now confirms it." This made the girl blush. "So..." I asked.

"...So..." Blake asked back, looking unsure of herself.

"So to me, you are not ready to talk about this to others." Putting my non-injured hand on the girl's shoulder. "So when you're ready I'll be there waiting to listen," I said with a smile.

To me, Blake couldn't look anymore shocked. Than less than a moment later, the cat rushed in and had put me in a hug. I wince slightly from the pressure in my shoulder but chose to ignore it as best I can as I put my other arm around her to hug back. Blakes' shoulders shook weather from frustration or anger I don't know, but before I knew it, I heard her sniffle and a wet

substance along my neck. I also couldn't help but noticed that Blake smelled rather pleasant.

But it wasn't just Blakes sent that was getting to me, it was her in general being. For some time now, I've been feeling something different when I'm around her. Like I want to protect her, along with the others. It had been like this since my aura had been unlocked, and now I felt more open to my surroundings.

Right then, Blake stopped her sniffling and lifted her head up, revealing her face. But when I looked back at her, showing how close she was to me as our faces were only inches apart, I felt my breath was stolen away by her natural beauty. Like a man possessed, my hand lifted up to where her bow stood.

"Ruger...?" Blake said hesitantly but didn't move away or stop me as I wordlessly pulled her bow off, revealing her second set of ears.

From my point of view, the light from the cracked moon above had mirrored over Blakes individual black hair strains, making it look like stars were radiating off it. Her pale skin reflected under the moonlight to give it a white glow. The cat ears on top of her head gave her an exotic allure that I did not notice before now that seemed to awaken a lowly beast within me. Then were amber eyes that seemed to glow in the dark that mesmerizes anyone that looked in them. She was one word I could describe her.

"You're beautiful," I said softly to her.

Blake blushed but didn't look away. Instead, we continued to look at one another and blinked, seemingly drawn closer. The breath from our mouths mixing the closer they got.

"You sure they're up Yang?"

"They come up here to train so I...don't...see."

Hearing the voices, Blake and I became stiff at the sudden invasion of the newcomers. We both quickly turn to see the shock looks of the rest of our team looking at us. Thinking about the position we were in, I felt my cheeks heat up at what the others were thinking and judging by the red face of my fellow Faunus we were of the same mind.

I watched as the surprised look of Yangs face morphed into something that I couldn't find a word for, but the smile if you could call it that was something that sent a shiver down my spine. "Oh, I see how it is Blake. Take the only guy of the team aside for a little chat, confess your feelings, and keep him all to himself." The more Yang talked, the more Blakes hands squeezed my arms. And Ruby's soft giggling wasn't helping. Weiss shocked look also wasn't helping as she looked at Blake with wide eyes, but noticed they were focused on something particular on Blake. Looking to where the Ice Queen was looking at, I felt my heart skip a beat.

Blake's cat ears.

"You're a Faunus?!" Weiss said, breaking her silence.

This broke the teasing of the two sisters as they looked at the Ice Queen before looking to where she was staring. They eyes widen at the newly revealed cat Faunus to them.

It was then that Blake must have realized what they were staring at and looked down to see her bow in my hand. Looking at it, I saw her eyes go wide with fear before training her eyes back at the other girls. Before things could spring out of control, I intervened.

Shifting Blake over and put myself in front of her and confronted the others. Yang, Weiss, Ruby, it's rude to stare." I said, simply. My words seem to snap the three back to reality as to what they were doing. Ruby and Yang shook their heads and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry," said Ruby.

"Ya, sorry for staring Blake. Just you surprised me is all," Yang said apologetically.

"It's...ok," Blake hesitantly responded.

"And they're fucking adorable!" Yang said with a grin and two thumbs up. Blake gave her partner a strange look, and Yang shrugged her shoulders. "What? they are."

"They're so cute!" Ruby half screamed as the remainder of her shock wore off. Bumping the to turn towards me I gave her my best 'I told you so' look. I knew this kind of reaction would happen with the sisters. Ruby didn't seem to have a bad bone in her body, and Yang wasn't one to get mad at things like this. Blake looked annoyed at my look, but I watched her eyes drift over to the last girl in the group.

The two girls just seem to zone everything out. It was then Weiss slowly started walking up to us. A look of uncertainty over her face with a variety of emotions crossing her eyes. Taking a step back, I watch her close in on Blake being very cautious.

"By the gods, it's spreading," Weiss said quietly.

I could see the looks of confusion on all the girl's faces as Weiss looks between Blake and me.

"What 'spreading,' Weiss?" Ruby asked her teammate.

"Don't you see! First Ruger now, Blake! Some sort of-of viruses that is coming into contact with people and now they turning humans into Faunus!" Weiss said in a panic.

"WHAT?" the other three girls said in shock.

I felt my jaw drop in disbelief at what she just said. I expected something like this to happen from Ruby, but never the Heiress. What made this worse, is the look Ruby was giving her partner was something akin to realization.

"Oh my god, your right Weiss! We're all going to have cute animal parts! Oh, Yang! I hope can a pair of ears like Zwei then him, and I can be doggy besties!" Ruby said in excitement, almost literally vibrating from the thought. The two partners then collided with Ruby shaking Weiss over the possibilities of Faunus parts they could get.

Looking over at Blake, we were of the same mind of the comical disbelief at what we're witnessing. A virus that is about to turn humans into Faunus? Truthfully that did not sound that bad, hell that would be something some movie writer would like to make. But for Weiss of all people…

"Fuck it," I threw my arms up in irritation. "I have had a long day and can't take any more drama.

You girls," pointing at Ruby and Weiss, "calm down. I'm so frustrated and tired by what has happened today and about to pass out due to the amount of crap that has occurred. So whatever nonsense that is going can be moved to tomorrow so without further ado. Goodnight!" I turn to walk away only to stop at Blake and held an arm out to her. "Would you like to walk back to the dorm together with me, Miss Belladonna?" I asked the cat girl and watched her cheeks go red. Without a word, Blake took my arm and left the three stunned teammates behind us.

I didn't know what I felt for Blake, or what we were. But her holding my hand, feels...nice. And I think she rather be with me then the train wreck that was happening back there.


	17. Return to the Spirit

**Remnant, Beacon Academy**

 **Beacon Docks**

 **Oct, 12 0922 (Remnant time)**

* * *

Scanning the horizon, I tried to locate the transport that supposed to pick me up.

It had been almost a week since Cardin threw that jar of sap at me, along with Blake revealing to the others of her Faunus heritage.

With the footage of the leader of team CDNL portraying an act of assault on a fellow student with intent to cause harm is a grave offense that neither Professor Goodwitch or Ozpin approved. More so that this happened to two students at the same time. Because of his actions, he was expelled from Beacon Academy and was now on the huntsman and police records. Whenever he would apply for a new job, he would have his name show up and tell them precisely what he did. Due to the lack of evidence of the remainder of his team being involved with the actions they were allowed to stay at Beacon Academy. But they would be under a microscope of everything they would be doing and wouldn't be allowed to participate in the tournament during the Vytal Festival.

For Blake, she still withheld whatever info of her involvement with the White Fang, but I kept my word and stayed silent about it. The girls took the news in stride and understanding of why Blake hid her Faunus identity. I've read that racism is strong in places like Atlas, Weiss's home Kingdom, and what I'd read was not someplace I want to visit at the moment. Even if it was the most technological advanced country on this planet.

Having given her reasons as well info and documents proving her heritage had calmed Weiss down of her fear of " _Faunus Fever,_ " as Yang put it. The Ice Queen also felt guilty as she admitted to falling to the side of racism and had immediately apologized to Blake for any negative comments that she may have said that offended her without knowing.

It was a real heartwarming moment for the two as Blake forgave Weiss which relieved a lot of tension that was in the room. The two then talked over some minor things that Weiss wanted to ask Blake about, mostly cultural stuff. Weiss explained that she didn't have much contact with many Faunus growing up and wanted to clear up a few things to avoid any future problems. She ended up getting points in my book for that, she's come a long way in such a short time since that brat I saw back in the Grand Hall on the first day. Although the two were never close to begin with, I say they are on better terms now that Blake is willing to open up more. But sadly that didn't stop Weiss from acting like a germaphobe around Blake and me for a few days that was noticed by everyone, including Ruby.

It was later that day that I got a message from Anders. She received a massage from the school that I got injured and was sending a team to look me over and that I was to link up with them. I messaged her back saying I was fine, but she wanted to make sure of it. So later, after meeting up with the team outside of school, they did their tests on my health as well as some additional testing concerning my Faunus appearance.

Which then led me to now. Just hours ago I received a priority one message from her saying I'm to report to the _Spirit of Fire._ A dropship would be sent to pick me up to take me to the ship where I'm to link up with the Professor on an important discovery that concerns me.

This got me worried and hope this wasn't anything that would affect me. When asked about my team at Beacon, she told me that I would be waiting for them at the training facility. When discussing this with my team, they were not happy about it, Ruby and Blake more so. Which the two were with me now at the docks. Weiss and Yang had other things to prepare for the trip for training, so only my team leader and fellow Faunus came to see me off.

"I really hope they're not calling you back for anything bad," Ruby said as she sat on a nearby bench.

"I don't know, they didn't say," I replied as I rolled my shoulder. Thanks to Aura, it was just sore instead of sharp pains of pins and needles. I also decided to wear my blanked out Marine body armor. I had recently put an opening in the back for my tail to hang freely. I wonder what effects I could get from the crew? Maybe even swing by Echo company and see their reactions if they're there.

"It does raise a few concerns on the nature of their urgency to want you back," Blake commented while she reads her book.

Glancing at the cat Faunus, I couldn't help but feel my cheeks heat up at the memories of that night. The tension between us was a strange and new experience for me. For crying out loud, I've never been in a romantic type of relationship before now. We ended up talking about it later and decided to take things slow. Wanting to build a relation trust and such, which was a problem for me cause about 80% of my life I couldn't say on accounts that I'm not even from this planet and she is from a pre-spaceflight species. Life isn't fair sometimes.

"It does but can't do anything about that." _Especially if Anders of all people gave me a priority one message to return to the ship._ Professor Anders nor Captain Cutter wouldn't joke about something like that on a secure channel. Something has happened, and they need me there, pronto. "But nonetheless, I do hold them in high regard, and above all, I trust them. I've been with them for years and went through a few hairy situations with them. If they're asking me to come in for something important, then I can only speculate what that is." I said truthfully.

"Is that them now?" Ruby pointed out.

Turing to where Ruby was pointing. I recognize the unmistakable shape of a UNSC Pelican Dropship. Gathering my things which were only a backpack, I stand near an open area as we watch the Pelican circle the area before setting down. The rear hatch opened up, letting a man slightly older hopped out and walked towards us. As he got closer, I noticed he was wearing greenish tan jumpsuit that the UNSC army pilots wear. He carried with him a standard M6 pistol in a leg holster as well as a big curved knife on his belt. I also notice that he was missing his left eye and half his face burned off.

"Ruger Tyler?" The pilot asked. I nodded.

"That's me," I replied.

"So the rumor from the mill was true. Well, that's something you don't normally see every day," he said as he looked me over. "I'm Warrant Officer second class Phoros Goldstein. I've got orders to take yea back. You ready?" I nodded again.

"I am," I said before turning back to my two teammates. "I'll see you and the others tomorrow." Quickly giving the two girls a hug, Blake a few more seconds longer than Ruby I went with the pilot and board the Pelican.

As Goldstein went into the cockpit, I stood back at the edge of the ramp and looked at over at half my team. Ruby waving me goodbye and Blake locking eyes at me with a worried expression. I gave the cat Faunus a reassuring smile to which Blake returned. As the dropship started to go up, I donned my helmet and watch as I rose off the ground before flying away from Beacon and over Vale. That to soon pass as we flew across nothing but forests.

Seeing that I have another hour of flight till we get to the Spirit, I closed the rear bay door and settle in one of the seats and wait.

* * *

 **Remnant, Spirit Of Fire, A.O.**

 **July 10, 2533 (UNSC time)**

* * *

" _Hey back there!_ "

Jolting up from my nap from Goldstein's voice. I keyed in my helmet mike. "I'm here, what's happening?"

" _We're five mikes out from the Spirit,_ " he replied. " _Prepare to disembark_."

"Roger," I acknowledged. Standing up from my seat and stretched my back. Letting out a few pops, I felt go away as I did a few twists. With that out of the way, I went to the ramp and opened it. Just as I got a good view of the outside, we passed over the outer perimeter of the Spirits defenses. Giving me a good look at one of the five firebases that were set up to guard the Spirit. It wasn't long that the Spirit of Fire herself came into view, and what I saw was a sight to see.

My pilot had done a flyover, giving me a good view of the former colony ship. I could barely see any damage that the ship sustained with the Covenant and the port side that had crashed against that Covenant frigate looked almost finished. I would give her a few more weeks, and she'd look good as new.

The Pelican soon landed in one of the many hangers on the ship. I waited for the pilot to give me the go ahead. A few moments later, Goldstein exited the cockpit along with his co-pilot.

"Thanks for the ride," I said to the flyers.

"No problem, Operative. Take care now," he said before they left.

With that, I started my journey to the Professor's lab. I was to go directly to her once I land to discuss some topics that concern me and to hear about some of the experiences I keep finding myself in.

As I silently walk through the hanger. I felt the eyes of several the deckhands on me. From what the ones I did see looked at me either shock or surprise. Most after seeing me, they shook their head and went back to work. I even spotted a Marine complement nearby that I walked past. When one of them spotted me, he elbowed the rest and indicated the rest in my direction. I did my best to not show interest in being disturbed by everyone looking at me or my tail. I should have probably tucked my tail in because I'm starting to have second thoughts about all this.

As I made my way through the ship, I continued to get some stares from the crew of the Spirit. It wasn't long before I reached the elevator that led down to the ships observation deck that held the lab.

"Mind if I cut in, Operative?" Spoke an old familiar voice.

Turning to the owner, I see the ship's Captain walk up beside me. "Not at all, Captain. I was just on my way down to see Anders. I thought you would be there already."

"I would but some last minute reports came in from one of the Firebases," Cutter replied.

"Grimm?" I asked. He nodded.

"Its been getting worse. At first, we thought it was just a few Grimm packs that were migrating into the area. Now thou more and more try to deliberately penetrate our defenses. We've been lucky so far with minimal casualties, no fatalities but lost of equipment." The Captain explained.

"Well, thank god for small mercies," I said. "Anyway, onto the topic of me being here. Do you know why the Professor asked me to come back to the ship, Captain?" I asked him as the lift brought us down.

The Captain shook his head. "She has not, which is strange itself. Generally, if there were any new developments, she would inform me. With recalling you from your team at Beacon before being sent to our training facility at Fort Forge."

"Yeah, Ruby and-wait ' _Fort Forge_?'" I asked and looked at the ranked officer. He, in turn, smiled at me.

"Serina put together a pull system while you were gone on what names to use. Forge was one of them and was voted almost unopposed." He clarified as they reached the Professor's Lab.

"I'm sure he would be honored by that," I said before exiting the elevator. We walked through the cluttered lab filled with alien tech and Dust crystals to see the women we were seeing.

"Professor Anders," Captain Cutter addresses the researcher.

Anders turned around and looked at us. "Captain...Ruger," She greeted the officer, but when she looked at me, her eyes dropped down to my recent addition. Her eyes ever so calculating everything looked sad the longer she looked at my tail.

"Hey Professor, eyes are up here remember," I said in a teasing voice. That made her look up, but her sad look didn't go away.

"Ruger, I'm sorry. If I knew this would happen, I would never have sent you to that school," she said sadly.

"If you didn't send me Professor than you'd find someone else and they would have gone through what I did," I responded, but she did not look convinced. It was then Captain came to bring us on point.

"Professor, what is the meaning of this meaning? You even had Serina call in Mr. Tyler here away from his mission to be here for this so I'd assume it's of relevance to him." The Captain said as he looked at the Anders.

Anders didn't say anything at first but instead waved the two of us over to a big view screen on the side of the lab. On the screen held a regular double helix strain of DNA. "Yes, Captain, it does concern him." Anders clarified before turning to us. "On the screen now is the DNA profile that we have for Ruger when he came aboard and became one of the ship's crew." She pressed a few buttons, making may DNA moved to the side, and several more sets of DNA appeared. "These are DNA strains from a few Faunus that enlisted with us and are currently in training. Specifically, a male tiger Faunus with claws, a female ram Faunus with horns, and a female fox Faunus with a tail. The rest are humans native to this world." Anders explained as she pointed at the first three before going down the row of DNA. "Just before you got your Aura unlocked Ruger, I was doing a preliminary analysis on them to compare them to the humanity on this world and ours. What I found was a little shocking." My DNA and another were highlighted. "From the gene makeup, there is only 3.0% difference between the native Human Remnants and us."

"How genetically different are we talking about, Professor? The Captain crossed his arms. "And what does this mean in terms of relations with us, Professor?" He asked.

"The humans of this world do hold some advantages over us, Captain. From medical scans, I can confirm that their bone density is only 9% denser than ours along with 12 % increase in muscular density as well. As to our relations and to put it clearly Captain, the Humans of this world are cousins in the pool of evolution." I shook my head in disbelief.

"How's that possible, Professor?" I asked. "I may not be well versed in biology like you, but I do remember my segment of Human evaluation back in school. Something like this doesn't happen over a few generations but tens of thousands of years. And above how did humans get here in the first place?"

The Professor nodded in agreement with me. "You're right about evolution, Ruger. This wasn't done within a few decades, Serina and I would have picked up on any additives or augments in their system even if it was two to three generations old that was passed down. As for how Humans got her in the first place...I don't know. I've looked deep within their history and came up with nothing. The oldest written language I've come across was said to be dated nearly five thousand years ago and doesn't say anything about how Humans or Faunus came to be."

"Which brings me to our next topic, the Faunus." My DNA was pushed to the side as the three Faunus DNA's became highlighted.

"In every human being, deep within our DNA, there are trace amounts of animal DNA from back during our early parts in our evolution. Snakes, tigers, birds. In the Faunus somehow around if I had to guess sometime around 100 to 150 thousand years ago to make a wild guess. These genes mutated showing more physical features of the animals they evolved from. To my findings, Faunus show a staggering 11.47% difference between the Faunus and us."

"Whoa..." I said, silent surprise. "By what your saying Professor is that if the two humanities are like cousins than that would mean making the Faunus like a family member four or five times removed."

"HICOM and ONI are just going to love this," Cutter said as he shook his head. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"There are some things, Captain," Ander continued. "From what I could find. The Faunus gene is stronger in some than in others. I believe it differs from person to person, depending on the strength of the gene that gets past down per generation."

She then looked at me with a look of seriousness and a hint of sadness. "Now we're going to the final topic of this meeting. How Ruger ended up with a tail?"

This made the three of us glance at my extra appendage before looking back up. "Alright Professor lay it on me, how bad?" I asked her. She then went and typed on her keyboard. With it popped out my strain of DNA along with two new DNA strains, each slightly different than the last.

"As I've said this one before, here," Anders pointed at the one on the left, "is the DNA profile that we had for when you first came aboard. This," she led at the one in the middle, "is the first sample we got from you, Ruger after you had your Aura unlocked. From the data, I was able to gather and compare the two samples and found a 2.39% difference in your genetics."

"My god," I heard Cutter whispered. I would have said it to if I wasn't so focused on the mind shattering information I was getting.

"That's not the end of it," Anders said as she brought out the third DNA strain. "This one was taken from Ruger after I heard he was injured last week. I wanted to see if there were any further changes in his body's DNA that I missed. Instead, Serina pointed something odd about the strains not matching up perfectly with the last sample. When comparing it to his original DNA, it showed an 8.78% difference."

It felt like a lead weight had just been dropped in my stomach. The signs were there, and there was little to doubt of Anders work given her history. I really was losing my humanity.

"Ruger," the voice of the Captain brings me out of my thoughts. "Do you need a moment? We can pull off the rest of this for later if this is too much?" He offered.

"I'll go rest later, sir. Let's just hear the rest of this and get it over with," I replied, really I just want to do just that but held back to hear the rest of what's going on.

The guilty look that Anders had on was evident, but she nodded and continued. "With the rate of mutation I've been observing, it will continue to do so until it stables out on its own. But..."

"But you're unsure if it's going to stop at in the parentage the same as the others are at or continue to grow unopposed." The Captain finished which Anders nodded. "Can this be stopped or reversed?"

Anders shook here. "What is happening is beyond my capabilities. That's not just my knowledge on the Biology of the Faunus, but also the Spirit lacks the Lab equipment needed to properly study this event, let alone perform such operations. I know only a handful of people that could do this kind of work, but they aren't here, and I'm not them."

"I see..." The Captain said with no emotion in his voice. "But if this happening then how is Ruger still able to function the way he is now? From what I understand it, he shouldn't even be walking, let alone fight the battles that he has been in lately. No offense, son."

"None taken, sir, but I think I might have an answer for that," I said, bringing everyone's attention to me. I raised a hand and concentrated for a moment, letting a soft bluish purple glow cover my body. The surprised looks of the Captain and Anders made it evident that this was the first time they had personally witness an active Aura.

"Aura, "I answer. "They say it is the manifestation of the soul projected out to protect us from harm. I'm not religious by any degree like some, but the locals seem to believe in such. If what you said is true Captain, that I shouldn't even be walking and fighting like I am, then it is likely that this is keeping me together. For Aura dose have healing properties,'" I explained.

"That's not much to go on," Cutter said as he regained his composure.

"It's the only one I can think of sir. What knowledge I do have is what I learned in school, which I just told you."

"Professor, what is your assessment of this?" The Captain asked the women, who were staring intently at my Aura from her spot.

"Well, Captain, I'm at a loss of what to do in this situation. I have not the devices nor done in-depth research into Aura due to us keeping the ship and our origins a secret from the natives. I've kept my focus more on how these people's overreliance use of Dust and its strange properties."

"Very well..." The Captain did not look pleased. "Ruger, you will continue as you are now. You will link up with your team at Fort Forge when your team from Beacon arrives and begin training. Every two weeks, you will be sent to medical to be scanned again for any additional changes. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." His face softens as he reaches out and touches my shoulder.

"If these changes worsen to the degree that I believe that you can't handle, I will pull you off this mission," Cutter said firmly.

"Don't worry, sir. I've got a reliable team to watch my back," I replied.

"You have a lot of faith in the ones that put you in this spot in the first place, don't you?" Ander commented dryly. It was than Serina made an appearance.

"Well, he is a single strapping young man sharing a room with four beautiful single Disney princess imitators."

I would say something negative back to the smart(ass) A.I., but the comment struck me as too odd to even rebuke other than a," what?" That was also echoed by the other two occupants of the room. But instead of answering, she pulled up the school photos and profiles of all four of my teammates. "Oh you didn't know? Well you are going to love this."

"Let's start with your team leader Ruby Rose, age 15, younger half sister to Yang Xiao Long and daughter of one of the famous huntresses documented in recent Remnant history, Summer Rose, now deceased. Ruby alludes to the character of Red, in _Little Red Riding Hood._ Her innocent young nature also matches up in the story."

"Next we have Weiss Schnee, age 17. Heiress to the Schnee Dust company, one of the largest producers of the Dust in the world. Weiss alludes to the character Snow White from the fairy tale _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs._ Even her name 'Weiss Schnee' translated in German means 'White Snow.'

"Then there's Blake Belladonna, age 17. Daughter of one Kali Belladonna and Chief Ghira Belladonna, former leader of the White Fang when they were a simple protesting group rather than terrorists and now leader of Menagerie islands population. Blake alludes to Belle and The Beast from the fairy tale _Beauty and the Beast_. Like 'The Beast,' Blake has animal traits and is ostracized for them due to her Faunus heritage.

And finally Yang Xiao Long. Older half sister to Ruby Rose with both sharing the same father but different mothers. Yang alludes to Goldilocks from the fairy tale _Goldilocks and the Three Bears._ And from what I've read on her file, she takes a high value of her long, thick, golden-blonde locks of hair. But what I found more interesting about her is that her mother Raven Branwen, abandoned her soon after she was born and left with her father and became a Chieftain of a bandit tribe on the continent of Anima."

The more Serina talked about my teammates, the more I could feel my jaw dropped from realization. When she was done, I felt my brain pulse from this new info. "Umm...okay..." I said while leaning on the holo-table for support.

"Ruger?" Anders said as she appeared at my side. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah," I uttered.

"Wanna end it for the day?"

"Yeah..."

"We were done anyway. That was all I had to talk to you about. Captain, I do have a few more things to talk to you about before you go," Ander said to me before turning to the Captain.

"Ruger, your bunk where Echo company is at is still open to you. You can head there and rest. Later when I'm free we can talk more about current events that will be happening that you will be made aware of when the time comes. Dismissed."

* * *

 _Author notes: Hey everyone. News note. My tablet that I've had for years that I do like all my writing on has pretty much died on me. The battery on it has given out and there is nothing for me to do about it. And had to use a school desk top computer to finish this up for you all. I will later come back to this chapter to do more edits in the future when I get me a new system to freely write again. So I'm going to be stuck for now and will not be able to do much if at all when it comes to writing._

 _:I like to thank_ "Dancing of Doom" _for submitting his OC_ _Phoros Goldstein, the pilot_. _To the story, thank you._

 _Sorry if I have not been responding toy reviews every chapter like I did in the beginning. I will now being doing that every so often like every other chapter or so._

 _But please send in your reviews, I like hearing feedbacks from readers whether good or bad._

 _ **Review responses: "or some of them"**_

 _ **Artyom-Dreizehn:**_ _**No one expects the Helmet Cams lol! Seems that Cardin isn't a Savy one as Modern combat gear or advance gears mostly comes with recorders.**_

 _That's why a lot of highway patrol officers wear them. People always forget them till it's to late. Then there is nothing you can do about it._

 _ **Joeyginise:**_ _**Alright, I am sick of your shit. I like your story, I really do. But I can't handle the terrible grammar and badly structured sentences. Its holding you back. Proofreading is your best friend. And if you absolutely need to, get a beta to help you out. Seriously, you need to fix this, its a problem.**_

 _Your right, it's a problem I've had all my life. But even with people proof reading my stuff it's not 100% no matter how hard I try._

 _ **GreenTheRyno:**_ _**That has to be the single funniest Blake reveal I've ever read. Also it's good to see Weiss freak out in a good way for once, I wonder if she'll become a pseudo-germophobe around those two for fear of becoming a Faunus.**_

 _I wanted to do something that no one else had done. I've read a bunch of other Blake reveal shots in other stories and didn;t want to go with that mindset. So in simple terms "I reject your reality and substitute my own."_

 _ **Guest Q: *chuclkes at Blake scene* Its always the quite ones. Though I might be reading into it too much, but is this the start of an OC/RWBY ship? [don't care if it isn't [writer's prerogative after all :)], but his dynamic with them is so good I might not even notice it until it happens]**_

 _I originally wasn't going to ship the two of them together but the more I thought about it the more I was beginning to like the idea so i just said f*** it. I like the idea too much._


	18. Welcome to the UNSC

**Remnant, UNSC Army base, Fort Forge**  
 **Combat Training Readiness Center**  
 **Oct, 13 0922 (Remnant time)**

* * *

"I wonder if it's possible to go back in time and warn my younger self of this? Maybe there is a semblance for that," I mused to myself.

I was waiting on one of the landing pads, watching the setting sun while waiting for the girls after I had just finished a tour of the facilities that me and the team would be training in along with having a chat with the Regimental training commander Col. Brewer along with the Major in charge of the company training the girls, a Major Sharpe.

It was my first time officially meeting the two of them. Col. Brewer and Major Sharpe were like almost two opposites to coin in terms of soldiers and gave me different vibes of them. The Col. was like any other officer one would expect in the UNSC proper, educated, and clean. He was by the book and had been an officer from start to finish. He was built like any other soldier but had an air of policies that reminded me a bit like whenever I'm in Professor Ozpin's office.

The Major, on the other hand, was a soldier through and through. Sharpe was just like his namesake, Sharpe. He was a tall man with bared shoulders, a long scar under his eye on his cheek. Hard eyes with a sense of duty about them that only a soldier on the frontline would recognize. One that earned his position through battle and not by politics.

We had exchanged pleasantries and explained what was going down. The Major disagree with Cutter and Brewer on having to repeat training when I already went through a crash course version of it and fought with them in battle on more than one ground engagements against the Covenant — even going so far as having brought up the footage of my initiation into Beacon and what I had to go through.

So after a few more words exchanged. The Col. and Major came into an agreement on my standing. Due to my prior engagements along what I've gone through on Remnant and with the Parasite they are giving me the army's rank of E4, a Specialist, during training. While also assisting in training company's First Sergeants detail for the entirety of the training cycle.

I had to admit it was a sweet deal to get and accepted it. But since I'm with ONI, I wouldn't be keeping the rank for long. Technically an Operative of ONI is a higher rank than Specialist in the army, so I'm really getting demoted. Well, at least it's only for the training cycle.

As for the cycle itself, they are going to keep us together. Though if they bring in their weapons with them, then they will be taken and put in the base's armory for the duration of the training and returned when training is done or if a situation gets dangerous then can they can use them. I could only hope that they would be alright with this arrangement or if they decided to leave their weapons back at Beacon, which would be better. Otherwise, they would have to carry them along with the kit everyone is getting. With how much those weapons weigh compared to the average troopers kit I'd say they would be fine.

Seeing something in my peripheral vision, I saw what had to be the Pelican carrying my teammates coming in. A smile slowly formed on my face as I straightened my new army outfit. Unlike the Marines casual uniform of the woodland camo, the army's were blocky gray, mad and used for fighting in more urban environments.

The Pelican soon landed and opened the rear hatch, revealing my team inside. Upon seeing them, my mind went to the dossiers that Serina had gathered on them. With Ruby and Yang's parentage, Weiss's connections with the SDC, and Blake's history with the White Fang. The first two wasn't my business. The last two, however, were really bothered me.

I already knew about Wiess's affiliation with the company that her grandfather had built with his own two hands. From what I read from the company's history, things only got worse when Weiss's father, Jacques Schnee, took over. To list all the things that the company is responsible were pretty vast and essential to all the kingdoms, but there was also all the things that A.I dug up that made the company not very favorable in my eyes and listing them all would only make me angry, which serves just fine and makes a pretty good reason why the White Fan turned from equal rights protest movement to a wannabe insurrectionist group.

I was told later in privet by Serina that Anders was not happy the way the ran things and is now stepping over some of his Schnee company toes with the successful side business's that the UNSC civilians been running. Mainly the car dealership in Vale, a lot of people were interested in Warthogs now with their non-dust running engines.

But that was for later now it was time to focus on my teammates. Ruby looked beyond the landing platform towards the courtyard and eye all the marching trainees that marched in unison. Weiss was looking up at the Pelicans engines, obviously interested in them due with the look on her face. She still didn't believe me when I told her the UNSC doesn't rely on any Dust products that all the other kingdoms use. Yang looked indifferent of her surroundings as always with her carefree attitude. Blake looked worse off as she seemed to be looking everywhere and not wanting to be here as her slightly timid nature.

"Hey ladies," I said, gaining their attention. "Welcome to Camp Forge."

"Ruger! It's so good to see you!" His team leader said happily.

"We saw him just yesterday you dolt!" Weiss said in her usual high-class manner. I just roll my eye's with it. Their antics were the norm by now.

"Anyway, like I said welcome to your home for the next few months. I'm here to escort you girls down with me and get through the processing." I informed them.

"Processing?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Thinks like getting your picture taken for you I.D., uniforms, some gear and the like. It's a lot of things we have to do and not a lot of time to do it." With that, I waved them over to follow as we walked into the building.

As we entered, we were greeted with one of the Drill instructors wearing the signature wide brim hat of a drill sergeant. The man wasn't very tall compared to most at around five foot six with black hair and brown eyes.

"These them, Specialist?" The Drill Sergeant asked. His accent was heavy with British English.

"Yes, Drill Sergeant."

He nodded to me before turning to the four girls I saw him glanced at their weapons but didn't say anything as he looked back up. "I'm Sergeant Cooper. I have been assigned as one of the Drill instructors in the company you will be in. The group you will be in has already gone ahead of you, lucky for you I'm here to speed things along. Now you four will come with us," he said pointed to him and me. "And will get you to sign all the safety forms, get fitted for uniforms your uniforms and gear. After that will get you into the group you are in and get started. Let's get started." He finished before turning away but stopped and looked at Blake, making her freeze in place at his next words. "Make sure you take that bow off when you're in uniform.

I watched Blake go wide eye before she turned to me, eyes goring from shock to rage when she looked at me.

"They already knew Blake," I said quickly trying to stem the anger of the cat teen. "They got profiles of everyone here. Me, you, and everyone that joins in. They do a background check to be sure that no one guilty of severe crimes gets put in."

"They…" Blakes' face turned fearful once again.

"They said that if you got into Beacon, then there is no reason you shouldn't get a chance here. But you may want to talk to us about that sometime later." I replied. Blake looked away, seemingly awkward.

"Come on, let's get going. The next few days are going to be long, and that's before the actual training. Plus," I looked down at the signature huntsman weapons they brought with them. "We need to get those logged in to the armory."

"Why? Can't we keep them with us in our lockers?" Yang asked as she looked at her gauntlets.

"Because this is a military base," I replied as I waved them to follow me. "It's a good thing the men in command here are aware that you were bringing them. Otherwise, they would take them, and you'd never see them again." That made Ruby go wide-eyed in fear as she hugged her 'sweetheart.'

"Don't worry, they will be secured and safe as its the same place as they are keeping my weapons there too," I told them.

The four looked at each other before they nodded in agreement. "Okay Ruger, if you say so."

* * *

I pulled the thin blanket over my head, falling fast asleep on the uncomfortably thin mattress. These were thinner than the ones that were on the Spirit. Already did I miss the fine beds out of Beacon. The previous day had been a horrendously long day of in-processing for the girls and me. Endless forms, uniforms to acquire and fit, turning in the girl's weapons and drawing UNSC weapons, and haircuts to get. Yang and I were stunned when Ruby and Blake asked to get their hair redone. Ruby had gotten a few inches off her head giving her even shorter hair, making her look more boyish and Blake had hers done up down to her shoulders now. Needless to say, when we all saw her next blew me away as I couldn't stop looking at her without having my cheeks heat up. Finally, we were able to get into bed by 2100, and I was ready for some sleep. I'm sure the girls learned a lot of new vocabulary when going through the day, ranging from the designations of all the new weapons they were issued, much to Ruby's joy, to the new name of the room they were staying in. They were in a bay, with the rest of their platoon. Forty people slept on each side in a column of 20 bunk beds, perfectly aligned.

The girls were spread out along the bay as we were lined up in alphabetical order. Ruby and Weiss ended up sharing a bunk next to mine, and Yang was further in the back while Blake ended up on the other side of the platoon bay close to the Drill Sergeants office.

My bunkmate, a man named Sky Deland, made a sensible prediction that they would probably be woken up at 0300, or some other ungodly hour. From my past experience, he isn't wrong in thinking that.

It was then I heard the * _ting_ * small, metallic device clattered across the floor. ' _Flashbang grenade._ ' My mind registered as I quickly shut my eyes and claimed my hands over my ears.

One brilliant light, ear ringing, and confusion moment later, I moved myself off on my bunk and on my feet.

"Wake the fuck up!" Sergeant Cooper came kicked the door open, storming into the bay with two other Sergeants. Each had a 'Smokey Bear' hat pulled down tightly over their heads so that each interaction was like talking to an eyeless demon.

"Get dressed and on line, right now! ACU's! ACU's"

"What are you doing? Get on line!"

"Stay out of my Killzone! What are you doing, huh? You think you're special?"

"Oh god, look at this chick right here! She thinks she's special! Just fuckin' prancing through the Killzone like it's no big deal. Go on, say it. You think you're better than us, right?" One Drill Sergeant with orange red hair said as I watched him came upon Weiss as she stumbled off her bunk.

"Uh-" Weiss said as she looked to be still disoriented from the flashbang.

"Just say it! You obviously do, or you wouldn't be in my Killzone. You know what? Screw it, start pushing." He ordered as soon as another one saw this and came over to them.

"Oh, you're just going to stand there, and let your battle buddy do pushups? Hey, I've got an idea. As the president of the 'let's screw my battle buddies over' club, why don't you lead the platoon in pushups?"

"What are you waiting for, start pushing!"

"You're in my Killzone again! Do you not see your buddies pushing over there? Go on, join them. Get out of my Killzone! Get! Out! Of My! Fucking! Killzone! You're still here! Move!"

"So you're just going to stand up and walk away? No, screw that, get back here! Push! Now move! You stood up again! Push and crawl at the same time!"

"Everyone outside! Form up outside! Four ranks, go! Move, move, move, move!" Hitch ordered as they got up and moved.

"Hey, Trooper! Did you just touch me?"

"No excuse, Drill Sergeant!" Replied one privet that I didn't know the name of.

"Damn right there's no excuse. Get outside quickly before I lose my mind. Go!" The trooper scampered at speeds he had never thought possible. The platoon was joined by the other three that made up the company and converged on the pavement outside, mass chaos erupting as they all fought for their designated place. Some bickered arose as the terrifying Drill Sergeants looked on in disdain. The Troopers fought with each other to gain proper alignment until the Drill Sergeants interdicted with remedial PT. The platoon alternated between a small assortment of exercises, all relatively basic and surprisingly painful.

As my eyes wandered around, I could guess all the new guys on who had Aura and who didn't, like the ones who didn't struggle more than the ones that did.

Taking a glance over to where the girls were at. I saw Yang blowing through this with little problem, Ruby was having a little difficulty but was keeping pace, same as Blake. With the Cat Faunus's new shortened hair, it is now seemed to help her, unlike Yang whose hair was all over the place in that rushed ponytail job she and Weiss had. Then there was Weiss herself, Just from the look of her, I became worried just by the sight of hair as it was all over the place as she tried to keep up with the warm-ups.

After what seemed like the 1000th repetition of iron crosses, we mercifully switched over to pushups, continuing on for another 100 reps. I felt my muscles ache all over as it had been a while since I did any major bodybuilding workout like this. My relief would come after another ten minutes of air squats. When that ended I was near drenched in sweat, I felt a bit exhausted as me, and the other Troopers moved into formation with new-found haste.

Stealing a glance at the clock. The luminescent face shone 0257 down upon them. This was going to be a long day.

"Right face!" The harsh voice of the Drill Sergeant in charge of today's PT called out. The company jogged out towards the PT field.

We got there we were greeted by the company Major. Sharp along with the First Sergeant in charge, a First Sergeant Harper, a big man of Irish descent that could only be matched by a Spartan. We formed up by platoon and stood at attention. We stood there a moment as the two walked in front of every single trooper in the company. From my spot, he was examining the name and face of everyone in front of them. I saw him took an extra glance when he stood in front of Ruby before shaking his head and moving onto the next person. When he was done, he moved back to the front, where everyone could see him.

"Listen up and listen well. My ordered are to turn you into soldiers," Sharp announced as he walked down the line. "Not parade ground soldiers like the ones you see in Atlas or the wimpy defense force that Vale clobbered together, nor what Mistral has with its weekend warrior band and definitely not what the hell Vacuo has, but battlefield soldiers. Soldiers that can stand and fight whether or not they have Aura to protect them, and would put others before themselves.

"Look at you all, go ahead look," he said as everyone glanced at each other. "Each of you is here at your own choice. All of you have come from all walks from all over the world. Faunus from Menagerie, students from Beacon, Veterans from Atlas, frontiersmen from outside of the Kingdoms." By this point, I was sure he had everyone hanging by their ears at what he was saying. Hell, I was too with the way he was speaking.

"Now you listen here," Sharpe said in a tone that promised pain if one didn't hear him. "I know there are some of you who have negative views about other individuals currently in the ranks due to them having parts on them that yourself and the other has. Well, I can tell you this now. Any talk that brings any acts of racism into my company that individual will be tasting the steel from my rifle as it comes out of your throat before booting your ass back out to wherever you came from.

Now...I know every skiving, dishonest, malingering army trick there is. How's that? Because I started out where you did, in the ranks, remember that!" He said as he took a step back from where he was at and gave us one last look over. "My name is Sharpe. Major Sharpe, and I'm here to teach you how to be soldiers." Sharp finished with a grin.

* * *

 _ **Hey everyone. Sorry for the short chapter and long wait. Things have been busy and just recently been going back to doing hard work so my time writing has been hard pressed. Thank you all still following and thank you all those favoring this story despite the grammar problems the story has.**_

 _ **For that recognized a few people in this chapter, yes I went there. I have been recently been watching the old Sharpe's adventure show and decided to add him and others from that and the wonderful book series that was made by the author of the books. Bernard Cornwall, which is like 22 books long. That's dedicated writing right there.**_

 _ **See you all next time!**_

 _ **Reviews!**_

 **TauntSup3rs3t24**

 **This story is looking really good right now, grammatical errors notwithstanding. I have a question though. Will Team RRWBY go through standard army training, or given special combat training, like, for example, Ruby going through sniper school or Yang given CQC training?**

 _They will be going through the standard army training regiment like how everyone starts off. What comes next is still up in the air._


	19. Red Phase

**Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter. The next few chapters of this will also be short as well and would be more like fill in chapters more than anything.**

* * *

 **Remnant, UNSC Army base, Fort Forge**

 **Combat Training Readiness Center**

 **Oct, 30 0922 (Remnant time)**

 **Red Phase shenanigans'**

* * *

"One. Two. Three."

 **"SIXTY EIGHT!"**

"One. Two. Three."

 **"SIXTY NINE!"**

"One. Two. Three."

 **"SEVENTY!"**

' _This is ridiculous!_ ' I thought in dismay as we watched forth platoon doing punishment push-ups. Somehow a couple of dunderheads thought it was a good idea to sneak out to a nearby store to buy candy and soda. To bad for them that the store they purchased the candy from was owned by a fellow Arcadian that had the number to Base security. Now the MP's had brought them in with the Drill Sargent's attention. To which we were bearing witness to the harshest treatment being done to said dunderheads.

 **"ONE. TWO. THREE!"**

 **"HULT!"**

Position of attention, move!" Drill Sargent Hagman finished.

"Wow..." I heard Yang say next to me. "They will be feeling that tomorrow."

Yang and I stepped away from the window and back to our team. Blake and Weiss were reading field manuals on their datapads that were on loan for the platoon. Ruby was sitting down while happily humming away and cleaning her new XBR55 Services rifle. The other day we went to a firing range the Spirit crew built for the marksman test and let us fire a bunch of rounds for weapons qualifications. No surprise that Ruby took the top marks in the class when she hit all fifty targes ranging from fifty to three hundred meters her firing position. With the MA5B's of all the things that we were given. She and Blake, both along with a few others in the company who scored more than forty hits, got issued them. Weiss, Yang, and myself came up short with the Ice Queen getting the lowest passing score of 27 confirmed target hit and me and Yang tieing each other with hitting at 38 targets.

For the last two weeks, the Drill Sargents and senior instructors have been drilling us in weapons usage, combat drills, physical exercise, and basic first aid. Each of my teammates got hooked on some form of training to keep themselves busy. Ruby took to the weapons classes and drank everything they gave her like a fish out of water. Weiss became interested in the technologies and technics used in the first aid course. Yang loved the workouts the Sargent gave us but hated how early we all had to wake up in the morning. Blake surprised me by when she took an interest in combat tactics and had asked Sargent Cooper if they had any field manuals on them during our first week. He gave her a datapad that was filled with all the field and technical manuals. She's been looking them over nearly every waking moment during her free time.

Due to her outstanding performance in the range, Major Sharpe gave Ruby the option of an advance Sniper's ed course to add to her training at the end of the cycle. Said training would involve another week of working on getting her certified in long-range combat. Ruby agreed to it after talking with the rest of us as it would eat up our time during the break, but we told her to go for it.

Weiss was asked if she would like to be given a corse in combat medicine. She would be taught how more of the equipment worked and how to save lives. Weiss also confined in us, and she agreed to it.

As of now, Blank and Yang hadn't been asked to join any programs that the UNSC crew has been making. I was honestly surprised that they got as much as they did with what the Spirit's crew has left.

I shook my head and focused back on them now as I grabbed my MA5B off the nearby rack and started cleaning it as well. "So read anything good, Blake?" I asked.

Blake paused from her reading to look up at me. "This manual on boobytraps is rather fascinating. Whoever made this is either smart, sadistic, or both. Some of the ways to set up tripwire traps are sophisticated and ingenues. Plus, it also helps that there are pictures and diagrams in it to show readers how it's applied in steps." She explained before looking back at the datapad.

"Oh! I read some of that the other night!" Ruby said from her spot on the floor. "I never knew you can use a discarded rifle and some string turns it into a door trap."

"Can't be that exciting." Weiss raised an eyebrow at them and swiped her finger on the datapad. "Huh..."

Yang bent and lead over Weiss's shoulder to see what caught her eye. "Wow. Who would find the time to build that for a trap?"

Now catching my curiosity. I got and went over to Weiss's other shoulder to see what they were looking at. It was a picture of a deadfall trap that worked in tandem with a tripwire snare. The counterweight for the snare was for this trap had to be three times the target you want to be caught. Then there was the tripwire attached to the snare, releasing a spiked log from above, swinging down towards the unfortunate victim that was in the trap.

"Someone with a lot of time on their hands," Weiss muttered. Yang and I nodded in agreement.

"So, everyone excited for tomorrow?" Ruby said.

"Tomorrow? What's so exciting about tomorrow?" Weiss asked.

"Cus, it's my birthday!" Ruby announced with a joyful voice.

"Really? How old are you going to be?" Asked a nearby voice.

"I'll be sixteen!" Ruby replied as she turned to the person who asked the question only to jump at attention like the rest of us when Major Sharp appeared out of nowhere. "Sir!" She finished lamely.

We all stood at attention to address the officer. The Major looked amused at Ruby's reaction. "Well, now, that is good to know." Sharpe then turned to leave and walked out of the troop bay.

"That did not sound good," Yang said.

"Should I be worried?" Ruby asked.

* * *

 ** _The next day_**

* * *

Privet Rose! Front and center!" Called out First Sargent Harper.

"Moving First Sargent!" Ruby called out before falling out of formation. We watched as she ran up and stood in front of the company.

'Listen up troops. Today is Privet Rose's birthday. So it's our duty as fellow brothers and sisters of arms to help celebrate it the way the Army does to show that we all care. That said, every female in all four platoons is to fallout and form up in a new formation on Sargent Cooper. Wait for the command! Fallout!"

Myself and the men in the company watched the females all fallout of formation and into a new one. When the last girl was in, a neat three-row formation of nearly thirty women of ages between seventeen and thirty-five. Naturally, I saw Weiss, Blake, and Yang stand together. The girls were formed up just to Ruby's left.

' _Are they going to do what I think they're going to do?_ ' I thought to myself.

"Left face!" Complying the girls did. "Ladies, you will fallout Collom right from the right and march over to your fellow battle sister, and each of you will give her your sixteen birthday punches!"

' _They are!'_ My face cracked as I tried to hold back from laughing at the sight of the panicked look Ruby was making. I almost burst at the mischief expressions Yang **and** Weiss were giving the redhead. ' _Ruby, your aura will be tested this day._ '

"You doing alright there team leader?" I asked Ruby.

"I can't feel my arm," Ruby whined as she held her left shoulder with her right arm. Some of the girls didn't hold back on their punches.

"Happy birthday Ruby," Weiss said with a happy smile. This made Ruby and myself included take a step away from the ice queen. Weiss being one of them that didn't hold back on the redhead.

' _Why do the Ice Queen's smiles scare me?_ '

* * *

Note: The XBR55 is considered the first handheld weapon to officially kill a Covenant soldier. I first was going to give Ruby the DMR but after some research on the rifle they weren't developed and distributed intel 2547. So that is the reason why I haven't shown that gun in this story.


	20. White Phase

**Remnant, UNSC Army base, Fort Forge**

 **Combat Training Readiness Center**

 **Nov, 10 0922 (Remnant time)**

 **White Phase**

"You ok, Weiss?" Ruby asked her partner, who was slowly passing out over her school work.

She snapped the girl out of her stupor and shook her head. "I'm fine, just a little tired," she responded before refocusing on her work. The rest of the team and I watched the Heiress worriedly.

In order to not fall behind in our studies as Huntsman, the UNSC trainers had scheduled times for us to study on days where there are little training and rest days. It was all self-study, and some of us were having more trouble than others. Weiss was the worse of us. Not in studying, but trying to stay awake while studying. The training was starting to get more physical. With the Heiress being the least fit among the team, it affected her the most. While she was improving, some things took a bit of time for her to get used too.

"Don't go to sleep on us yet, Weiss. We still have another hour before the drill Sargent's come back to tell us to pack it up and go to bed," Yang said as she worked on her Dust homework.

"Training getting to you?" I asked my white-haired teammate. "You didn't look that great after the four-mile run we did this morning."

I saw Weiss sigh before setting her pencil down. "If I wanted to join the military, I would have followed in my sister's footsteps in going to Atlas Academy."

"You would probably be miserable," Blake spoke from behind her book. "From what we know and what you told us about your father, I would understand about getting as far away from there as you can." Ruby, Yang, and I nodded are heads in agreement.

Not long after Ruby's birthday, Weiss's father contacted Beacon requesting an update on his daughter's progress and demanded to see her. The Headmaster told him she was out on an important assignment, which was true, but he'd have none of it. He even went so far as threatening the Headmaster with an increase in the price of Dust shipments that Beacon and Vale relied upon. Ozpin understood and asked the SDC owner to stay on the line for a few minutes so the man could arrange the call. He contacted the UNSC base commander, Colonel Brewer, and explain his predicament.

The only reason I knew so much was that I was with Major Sharp, getting ready to send me back to Anders so she could monitor my body changes when Brewer called. He explained the situation to us, enraging the scarred Officer while my jaw dropped at the implications.

The UNSC didn't use Dust like the rest of Vale and Remnant so they would be unaffected by it. But if some of the recruits got wind of this, things would not be pleasant.

Sharp ordered me to find Weiss and get her down for a video call with her father. I advised Weiss to be in her civilian clothes as from what I heard. The elder Schnee is not a fan of the military. The Major agreed with me and called in the Drill Sergeants of First platoon.

Luckily it was a rest day like today, so Weiss was easy to find and explained everything. I stood in the office with Major Sharp when Weiss came walked in with her old combat skirt. Weiss made her call while the two of us stood back and watched in silence.

After the call, I was more sure than ever after that call that Jacques Schnee was a self-entitled prick. Then man talked down to his daughter with no love in his tone a father should have. Being all business and acting as the threat he made to Vale didn't matter as long as he got what he wanted.

The Major dismissed Weiss as the call ended. When I returned to the _Spirit Of Fire_ for my check-up with Anders, I informed her of what happened with my teammate and her father. Say what you will about the Professor, but you did not want to make her angry.

Since then, a few of the ship's crew dedicated land surveillance shifted to Dust mining surveying operations. Finding pockets of Dust to mine and sell to Vale for both extra-planetary incomes, helping the city's Dust shortage, and build the reputation of the UNSC. I haven't heard much after that.

"Though you have to admit, self-studying this is a lot better than listing to Port drone on about how great he is at vanquishing Grimm for two hours," Yang pointed out.

"Agreed/oh yeah/not complaining/no argument with me," was the response from everyone.

"I do have to ask," I said, getting the girls attention, "how are you all holding up? I know that this was not what I expected to happen when going to Beacon."

The girls were silent for a few moments, stopping their work to think. Weiss was the one who spoke first.

"It surely hasn't been what I thought I'd end up when I left Atlas to come to Beacon. Coming here has been educational, that is for sure. How this entire operation runs without Dust is something I will not understand."

Ruby spoke after her partner. "It's~ been fun, somewhat. Having to learn all these new skills and getting to fire all these guns has been a lot of fun. But I want to become a Huntress, not a Soldier."

"I agree with Ruby," Blake said next. "In many settlements outside the kingdoms, many Faunus don't view soldiers in a positive light. It's mainly due to the actions of how Atlas handles things. Huntsman have reputations for serving communities and fighting equally for both humans and Faunus."

"Was this your reason for hiding your ears?" Yang asked her partner.

The cat ears on top her head folded down as she didn't meet her partner's eyes. "I wanted people to give me a chance by my actions, not the way I look."

"Trust me, Blake, you're fine."

We all turn to Weiss, who said that surprising the cat Faunus by the looks of it. "Weiss?"

"If anyone should be judge by one's actions, it should be my family and me," Weiss confessed. "I know what my father has done and has wronged many people, both humans and the Faunus. He is not a kind man by any means, Ruger got a taste of it during the call I got." She said, and I nodded in agreement. "Because of his actions, it made things worse for us and painted a bullseye for terrorists like the White Fang to attack."

Off in the corner of my vision, I see Blake's ears twitch. Being the only one with knowledge of Blake's past with the White Fang, I'm sure she felt a little hesitant about revealing it to anyone else, especially Weiss.

"They say acknowledging a problem is the first step towards resolving it," Yang said.

"Yang, did you just a quote from that medical manual we got sent to our tablets last week?" Weiss accused the blond.

"Just finished reading the section of addiction last night," the Blonde brawler replied.

"I'm surprised you read that," Ruby said to her sister.

Said sister shrugged her shoulders. "Meh, it's not that bad. Plus, it's surprisingly easy to read and has a bunch of training videos to watch," she answered. "Anyway, I have to admit that it has been a bit difficult adjusting to all of this. Mainly getting up before 0500...and getting me hooked on military time dang it!" This made the team openly laugh a little at Yang's struggle as she continued. "But I also had fun too. I feel all this training we're going through also has been helping us get closer to each other."

I glanced at Blake right when she did the same and quickly looked away as the memory of me almost kissing her came to mind. We still haven't talked about just how that happened in the first place. But pushed it aside, for now, and went to listening to Yang.

"Training to fight like a team, working out every day at soon as we're awake, and learning more about ourselves then I thought it was possible."

"What do you mean, sis?" Ruby asked. We were all a bit interested in wondering what their blond teammate, who likes rushing head-first in combat, was suddenly talking about it.

"I feel like we are slowly trusting each other more. Like you, Ruby, you've been making friends among the other members of the platoon and making friends with our Drill Sargent. I even saw you the other day having a friendly conversation with First Sargent Harper."

Ruby smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "I thought he was scary at first, but it turns out he's a great guy and loves my questions about weapons."

"Then, there's Ice Queen here not being snippy like she was in the first week of school." Yang pointed at Weiss. "She is starting to be more laid back and trusting of us."

Weiss's eyebrow visibly twitched in front of everyone before taking a deep breath. "I admit, I may have come off a bit difficult in the beginning-"

"That saying something alright," Blake commented with teasing smile.

"-but~" Weiss continued, sounding like she was stretching her limit of patience from the interruption. "Having to put up with all of you has been an 'interesting' experience. One that I would not get in Atlas and has allowed me to be an average girl by today's standards. Mostly done by Ruby."

Ruby then zipped over to her partner with her Semblance and drew her into a hug. "I knew you'd come around BFF!" Weiss rolled her eyes but didn't say anything and let Yang continue.

"Then there's you, Ruger," Yang points at me.

"Me?" I inquired, wondering what she was going to say next.

"So much has happened to you in the last few months that I can't get out of my head. You've gone through initiation like all of us, but without Aura—you one your first combat spar with another Aura user without having an Aura yourself. When we unlocked your Aura for you, you somehow became a Faunus right in front of us. Then finally that asshole Cardin nearly kill you by throwing that jar of sap. Am I missing anything, girls?"

"Don't forget about him and Blake getting together!" Ruby said happily. Making Blake's face suddenly became red while I choked on my breath.

"What?! No!" Blake protested.

"That's right!" Then, Yang points at Blake, the blonde's finger an inch away from the cat Faunus nose. "Blake, you used to be such a loner back when we first met, I was going to write you off as a lost cause if it wasn't for Ruby's quick thinking. Now you're opening up to us, and getting along. You even hooked your claws around the sole male member of the team so quickly into the semester and have claimed him as you own!"

Blake's face was almost entirely red. "No! I don't have my claws around him, Yang! He's just a good friend!"

I watched as Yang's left eyebrow rose. "I see...so you won't mind if I go and do this then?" I could only watch as Yang get up from her spot and walk over in my direction.

"Yang? Yang, what are you doing?" Blake said, with a low panic tone as she got closer to me.

As for me, I felt like trouble was coming my way and could not stop it. "Um...can I help you with something, Yang?" I asked.

"Oh, don't mind me, Ruger. I just came to give you something," Yang bent over me.

Then a hand came out grabbed Yang's shoulder. "Leave him alone, Yang."

Blake came up from behind her partner, her cat ears turning straight back, and eyes filled with fire. Yang seemed to get the message as she raised her hands in mock surrender.

"Easy there, Blake. Just playing around with your boyfriend," Yang teased.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Blake shouted at Yang, though it sounded haft hearted to me.

I put a hand to my face and started messaging my forehead.

"What have I gotten myself into this time?" I said quietly before looking at the Bumblebee pair going back and forth between each other.

 **Remnant, UNSC Army base, Fort Forge**

 **Combat Training Readiness Center's outer gun range**

 **Nov, 14 0922 (Remnant time)**

"Alright, Troopers! Today's a special day for all you gun lovers," Sgt Herries announced to the training company.

From where I stood with the rest of the First Sargent detail off to the side, the UNSC sergeant was standing behind a long row of tables with heavy UNSC weapons. It was not the time for training with the more substantial ordnance aspect of the job required by soldiers.

Looking over where my team stood held various levels of excitement. The sisters looked really excited about this. Ruby was bouncing on the balls of her feet, her face full of enthusiasm. Weiss, on the other hand, looked indifferent but showed a level of interest. Blake seemed utterly uninterested in the showcase but nonetheless paid attention.

The cat Faunus glanced at me, and I had to look away. Since the last team self-study a few days ago, things had been slightly awkward around Blake and me. Namely, due to how Yang has been lightly teasing Blake into "claiming me" as her boyfriend. Sure Yang has meant it all in good fun, but I suspect it's all in good fun.

I, on the other hand, want to continue with my life. I assumed Blake wants to as well. I still need to talk to her about nearly kissing her on top of Beacon's roof, but for now, I focused back on the assembly.

Sargent Herries was standing before a table with two SPNKR rocket launchers in front of him.

"This here is the M41 surface-to-surface rocket launcher, commonly known as the Jackhammer or the SPNKR, the UNSC's go-to weapon to blow stuff to oblivion if its infantry, Grimm, vehicles, or fortifications. The SPNKR is unique in that it uses a pair of detachable barrels where the rockets are stored in, and the barrel cycles when one is fired to be used in rapid succession, making it a semi-disposable launcher. It fires a 102mm guided rocket that can fly through the air and lock onto it's intended target."

Some of the training soldiers whispered to each other about it being guided. Herries cut into the talking. "You heard right ladies, guided rockets. But they only work if the launcher itself is equipped with the laser-guided sensor to direct the missile."

He walked over to another weapon that I was slightly more familiar with being around—the Hellbringers signature flame thrower.

"Behold! The NA4/Defoliant Projector. This here is a flame dispersing weapon used for burning Grimm till they become cinders. The NA4's primary function is to rout entrenched enemies. It could also be used for asset denial. Such as burning buildings and fields to give a tactical advantage over your opponent."

Take note: using these on an airborne target is extremely inadvisable. If your enemy is in the air and you miss it, those chemical flames are just going to ark over and hit something or someone else that you didn't damage in the first place. That could range from a dense forest full of cute little animals to a civilian home with people still inside. Or maybe you lucked out and hit a different enemy that wasn't paying attention, or your luck ran out when you antecedently hit your friend in the back with it and now is on fire." The Sargent continued.

It is why you will not be training to use these at this time. Only the Hellbringers will have access to them. If you wish to use them, you will have to volunteer for UNSC's special training regiment."

The Sargent clasps his hands together. "Anyway, we have two lanes set up for everyone to practice. These are training launchers, meaning that instead of everyone firing expensive rockets, you will be shooting flares instead." That got a few groans of disappointment.

"The two from each lane that follows the instructions given to them with the least problems will get to the chance to fire live rockets." That shut the disappointment right quick.

After that, the platoons moved to there assigned lanes While I stood in the back and watched from afar.

While they were giving out the handling and safety procedures, my mind wandered back to when I got my first chance at firing the rocket launcher.

It was when we were making a run for the exit to escape the exploding sun. That battle was fast and hectic. Covenant on one side with burning plasma at the ready. The other with flesh-eating monstrosities that would bring back from the dead just to eat your friend's face. I chose to fight the guys with the plasma rather than Zombies. Sometime during the firefight, I ended up grabbing a launcher and fire both tubes at a charging line of ghosts. I was awarded a pat on a back from Clean for doing that. Then he took the launcher away from me to reload it. That had been a long day overall.

I looked out at the range and decided to watch at the rest of the new guy's fire off flares form the training launchers. I also spotted Ruby and Blake currently on the firing line, handling the oversize flare launchers. Their team leader looked excitable as usual when handling some new weaponry while Blake acted like her usual self. But knowing her unless it's some cheesy romance book, then she isn't interested.

As the platoons continued and cycled, everyone got their chance with the launchers. The instructors picked out who was the best at following their instructions and brought them forward. One was, unsurprisingly to me, Ruby, and the other guy I recognized as one of the dark-skinned fox Faunus over in the company's Third platoon, Mark Mcdonald.

The only reason how I knew the guy was because he was part of the First Sargent detail a while back. He was older than most of the recruits in the company, being 33 of age. He brought me aside one day and questioned me if I was alright, being here. His question confused me for a moment before it clicked. I'm a Faunus, and so was he. He was asking if I was treated right by those around me do to being one of the few Faunus that's in First platoon. I reassured the guy that everything was fine, and I was taken care of by my friends. After that, he backed off the subject but remained in friendly terms. Through the grapevine, he's been somewhat of a friendly uncle to all the platoon.

We all watched as Ruby and Mark go up to the firing line with live ammo before shooting their rockets at a couple of old cars.

Ruby squealed in excitement after handling the SPNKR back. I laughed a little at her little moment of joy.

The platoons then split for lunch as me, and the rest of the First Sargent detail brought out the food dishes.

I sighed before looking up. "Just another day in the life of a soldier."

* * *

 **Been awhile since I've updated this. Going to see if I can at least Finnish basic for Ruger and the girls. Then have them go back to Beacon before the end of the semester.**

 **Also**

 **Mark Mcdonald is in fact a real person I met during my time in the military. We meet in Afghanistan of late in 2014 serving in the same unit. He was also my NCO at the time and it was his fourth deployment while it was my first. I am friends on Facebook with him and I've seen how it's been effecting him and his family due to Covid-19 and the Black lives matter riots. Both him and a few other dark skin military members I've served with are disgusted by what has happening to the county and people we proudly sacrificed years to serve.**

 **I will only say this so people know where I stand. Doesn't matter if Black, Yellow, red or white.**

 **All lives matter.**


End file.
